Indigofera tinctoria |
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mu lan, true indigo |
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Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, pubescent, hairs appressed, silvery, young growth and flowering parts covered with brownish hairs, becoming glabrate. |
Stems | erect or ascending, much branched, 5–20 dm. |
Leaves | 3–10 cm; stipules caducous, subulate, 1–2 mm; petiole 0.4–1.2 cm; stipels 1–1.5 mm; petiolules 1–1.5 mm; leaflets 7–15, opposite, blades broadly oblanceolate to obovate or elliptic, 10–25 × 3–10 mm, base cuneate, apex broadly rounded or truncate, slightly apiculate, surfaces pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
Racemes | 5–25-flowered, dense, 0.5–4.5 cm. |
Peduncles | 0.1–0.5 cm. |
Pedicels | 1–2 mm. |
Flowers | 5–6 mm; calyx 1.5 mm, lobes triangular; corolla pink or salmon pink. |
Legumes | red-brown or dark brown, spreading or reflexed, cylindric, straight or slightly curved or abruptly upturned distally, 20–35 mm, thinly leathery, strigose. |
Seeds | 6–12, greenish to dark brown, cuboid-ellipsoidal. |
2n | = 16. |
Indigofera tinctoria |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. |
Habitat | Ruderal areas, disturbed pinelands, hammocks. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; NC; SC; TN; s Asia (India) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico (Tabasco), West Indies (Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands), Central America, South America (Argentina, Venezuela), elsewhere in Asia, Africa, Australia] |
Discussion | Indigofera tinctoria was an early source of a blue fabric dye (J. A. Duke 1981). It was widely cultivated in tropical areas around the world, and it has naturalized in many regions. Use of the plant as a dye source waned after introduction of a synthetic dye. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Anila tinctoria |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 751. (1753) |
Web links |