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anil de pasto, Guatemalan indigo, indigobush

Carolina indigo

Habit Herbs, perennial, strigose, hairs appressed, grayish silvery. Herbs, perennial, herbaceous or suffrutescent, sparsely strigose, hairs appressed.
Stems

erect or ascending, many stems from ground, much-branched distally, stems angled, 5–20 dm.

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

Leaves

6–11 cm;

stipules narrowly triangular, attenuate, 5–6 mm;

petiole 10–20 mm;

stipels 0.5–1.5 mm;

petiolules 0.5–1.5 mm;

leaflets 9–17, opposite, blades elliptic or oblanceolate, 15–20(–40) × 5–10(–15) mm, base cuneate, apex acute, mucronate, surfaces strigose, abaxially sometimes glabrate.

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

20–30+-flowered, dense, 3.5–5.5 cm.

15–40-flowered, lax, 4–12 cm.

Peduncles

0.5 cm.

1–2 cm.

Pedicels

1 mm.

1–2(–3) mm.

Flowers

5–6 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes deltate to lanceolate;

corolla greenish yellow, orange, or purple-pink.

6–9 mm;

calyx 1.5–2 mm, lobes deltate;

corolla dark pinkish buff to ochroleucous.

Legumes

dark brown, reflexed, cylindric, strongly curved, 15–20 mm, leathery, base not bulbous or reddish, strigose to glabrate.

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

Seeds

4–6, reddish brown, cuboid.

2 or 3, yellowish tan, bluntly ellipsoidal.

2n

= 16, 32.

Indigofera suffruticosa

Indigofera caroliniana

Phenology Flowering year-round. Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Dry, sandy, open woodlands, along streams, abandoned fields, ruderal or agricultural areas. Pinelands, pine-palmetto, scrub oak communities, sandhills, hammocks, roadsides.
Elevation 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Central America; South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Indigofera suffruticosa is probably native to the New World tropics and subtropics. In the New World, it became a major source of blue dye. It was spread through cultivation to other regions of the world (P. C. Standley and J. A. Steyermark 1946).

(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. sphaerocarpa, I. spicata, 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 I. anil Anila caroliniana, I. disperma
Name authority Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Indigofera no. 2. (1768) Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Indigofera no. 3. (1768)
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