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Sonoran indigo, Sonoran indigobush

Habit Shrubs or subshrubs (woody), strigose, hairs appressed.
Stems

erect, diffusely branched, 3–15 dm.

Leaves

2.5–9 cm;

stipules linear-triangular, 1–2 mm;

petiole 0.3–1.5 cm;

stipels 0.5 mm;

petiolules 1.3 mm;

leaflets 13–19, opposite, blades elliptic to obovate-oblong, sometimes folded, 20–30 × 2–5 mm, base cuneate, apex broadly rounded or truncate, mucronate, surfaces strigose and pale abaxially, glabrate adaxially.

Racemes

20–35+-flowered, lax, 2.5–11 cm.

Peduncles

0.8–1.2 cm.

Pedicels

1–2 mm.

Flowers

4.5–5.2 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes broadly triangular;

corolla orange-mauve or pinkish.

Legumes

brown, divergent or deflexed, ellipsoidal, straight, 3–3.5 mm, leathery, glabrate.

Seed

1, brown, bluntly ellipsoidal.

Indigofera sphaerocarpa

Phenology Flowering Jul–Oct.
Habitat Dry, rocky slopes, with grasses, oaks.
Elevation 1000–1800 m. (3300–5900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Jalisco, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Indigofera sphaerocarpa is known in the flora area from Cochise, Graham, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, Arizona, and Hidalgo County, New Mexico. A single specimen from the Joshua Tree National Monument, Riverside County, California, was collected in 1973 (Smith & Sawyer 6890, HSC).

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

Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Indigofera
Sibling taxa
I. caroliniana, I. colutea, I. decora, I. hirsuta, I. kirilowii, I. lindheimeriana, I. miniata, I. oxycarpa, I. pilosa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. texana, I. tinctoria
Synonyms Amorpha ovalis, Anila sphaerocarpa
Name authority A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 5(6): 37. (1853)
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