Flora of North America species comparison

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Indigofera oxycarpa

Indigofera texana

Asian indigo, Florida keys indigo

Texas indigo
Habit Shrubs, pubescent, hairs appressed, silvery gray. Herbs, perennial, pubescent, glabrate, hairs crisped, curling.
Stems

usually procumbent, sometimes scrambling, branched, younger ones with faint zigzag pattern, from main stem at angle (30–90°), those arising from main axis usually short and stubby, 3–20 dm.

erect to procumbent, branched, 3–5 dm;

from stout rootstock.
Leaves

2–10 cm;

stipules narrowly long-triangular, attenuate, 1–1.3 mm;

petiole 1–2 cm;

stipels absent;

petiolules 0.5 mm;

leaflets 3–7, opposite, blades ovate or elliptic, 4.5–19 × 2.5–16 mm, base cuneate, apex acute or broadly rounded, sometimes emarginate, mucronate, surfaces glabrate to appressed-pubescent adaxially, less so abaxially.

2.5–4.5 cm;

stipules subulate, 5–8 mm;

petiole 0.4–0.6 cm;

stipels absent;

petiolules 0.5–1 mm;

leaflets (3 or)5–9, usually opposite, rarely subopposite, blades obovate, 18–25 × 5–7 mm, terminal leaflet equal to or slightly larger than laterals, primarily wider distally, base cuneate, apex acute, mucronate, surfaces strigose abaxially, glabrous or glabrate adaxially.
Racemes

20–40+-flowered, lax, 8–20 cm.

20–30+-flowered, lax, 3–10 cm.
Peduncles

2–6 cm.

2–5 cm.
Pedicels

1–2 mm.

1–1.5 mm.
Flowers

5–6 mm;

calyx 1.5–3.1 mm, lobes narrowly triangular;

corolla pink.

8–10 mm;

calyx 3–4 mm, lobes narrowly long-triangular;

corolla reddish.
Legumes

brown, strongly reflexed or spreading, cylindric, straight to slightly curved, 24–40 mm, papery, sparsely strigose.

gray-brown, deflexed, cylindric, straight, 18–27 mm, leathery, glabrate.
Seeds

9 or 10, yellowish brown, cuboid.

7 or 8, yellowish green becoming brown in age, often with brown mottling, cuboid.
2n

= 16.

= 32.

Indigofera oxycarpa

Indigofera texana
Phenology Flowering Oct–Mar. Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Rocky coasts. Granite-based soils.
Elevation 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) 200–700 m. (700–2300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; Central America; West Indies (Cuba, Jamaica); South America (Brazil)
from FNA
TX
Discussion

Indigofera oxycarpa is endangered in Florida, known only from Collier, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties.

The nomenclature of Indigofera oxycarpa has a confusing history (A. W. Lievens 1992). The earliest name for the species, as treated here, is Galega frutescens Miller [Tephrosia frutescens (Miller) de Candolle]. Since the name I. frutescens is preoccupied, the name I. oxycarpa is the oldest available name for the species, if it is recognized as separate from Old World taxa. Indigofera mucronata Sprengel ex de Candolle is an illegitimate name sometimes used for this taxon. Sprengel published I. jamaicensis in 1826; P. S. White (1980) adopted this name in his treatment of the genus for the Flora of Panama. Lievens provided a complete synonymy.

R. D. Meikle (1950) discussed the similarities of these New World plants with Indigofera subulata Vahl ex Poiret, an African species, and I. scabra Roth, an Indian species, creating I. subulata var. scabra (Roth) Meikle, and placing the New World names I. mucronata and I. jamaicensis under it as synonyms. Subsequently, S. I. Ali (1958) placed I. subulata and all its varieties in synonymy under I. trita Linnaeus f., creating a new combination, I. trita var. scabra (Roth) Ali for the New World taxon, later placed as I. trita subsp. scabra (Roth) de Kort & G. Thijsse.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Indigofera texana is known only from central Texas, in Blanco, Burnet, Gillespie, Kerr, Llano, Mason, and Menard counties.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Indigofera Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Indigofera
Sibling taxa
I. caroliniana, I. colutea, I. decora, I. hirsuta, I. kirilowii, I. lindheimeriana, I. miniata, I. pilosa, I. sphaerocarpa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. texana, I. tinctoria
I. caroliniana, I. colutea, I. decora, I. hirsuta, I. kirilowii, I. lindheimeriana, I. miniata, I. oxycarpa, I. pilosa, I. sphaerocarpa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. tinctoria
Synonyms Galega frutescens, I. jamaicensis, I. keyensis, I. laevis, I. macilenta, I. mucronata var. keyensis, I. rosei, I. trita var. keyensis, Tephrosia frutescens I. miniata var. texana
Name authority Desvaux: J. Bot. Agric. 3: 79. (1814) Buckley: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 13: 451. (1862)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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