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Sonoran indigo, Sonoran indigobush

Carolina indigo

Habit Shrubs or subshrubs (woody), strigose, hairs appressed. Herbs, perennial, herbaceous or suffrutescent, sparsely strigose, hairs appressed.
Stems

erect, diffusely branched, 3–15 dm.

erect or ascending, often bushy, branched, 7–15 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.

2–8.5 cm;

stipules narrowly triangular, 0.5–1 mm;

petiole 0.5–1.3 cm;

stipels 0.5–1 mm;

petiolules 1–1.3 mm;

leaflets (7 or)9–13, ± opposite, blades obovate to oblanceolate, 8–20(–25) × 2–12 mm, base cuneate, apex broadly acute or obtuse, mucronate, surfaces strigulose, pale abaxially.

Racemes

20–35+-flowered, lax, 2.5–11 cm.

15–40-flowered, lax, 4–12 cm.

Peduncles

0.8–1.2 cm.

1–2 cm.

Pedicels

1–2 mm.

1–2(–3) mm.

Flowers

4.5–5.2 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes broadly triangular;

corolla orange-mauve or pinkish.

6–9 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes deltate;

corolla dark pinkish buff to ochroleucous.

Legumes

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

dark brown, deflexed, ovoid or oblong, straight, 7–9 mm, woody, glabrate or sparsely strigulose.

Seed(s)

1, brown, bluntly ellipsoidal.

2 or 3, yellowish tan, bluntly ellipsoidal.

Indigofera sphaerocarpa

Indigofera caroliniana

Phenology Flowering Jul–Oct. Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Dry, rocky slopes, with grasses, oaks. Pinelands, pine-palmetto, scrub oak communities, sandhills, hammocks, roadsides.
Elevation 1000–1800 m. (3300–5900 ft.) 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Jalisco, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; NC; SC
[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.)

Indigofera caroliniana Walter is an illegitimate later homonym that pertains here; the name by Walter is also the basis of Anila caroliniana.

(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. oxycarpa, I. pilosa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. texana, I. tinctoria
I. colutea, I. decora, I. hirsuta, I. kirilowii, I. lindheimeriana, I. miniata, I. oxycarpa, I. pilosa, I. sphaerocarpa, I. spicata, I. suffruticosa, I. texana, I. tinctoria
Synonyms Amorpha ovalis, Anila sphaerocarpa Anila caroliniana, I. disperma
Name authority A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 5(6): 37. (1853) Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Indigofera no. 3. (1768)
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