Summary ⁷

Amorpha fruticosa (false indigo) is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is found throughout the United States, southeastern Canada, and northern Mexico.

Botanical Information ⁸

False indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) is a purple-flowering, deciduous shrub with compound leaves. It is a native species that grows 1 - 1.5 meters tall. Each leaf grows to 8 inches with 9-25 oval-shaped leaflets that are 0.75-1.5in long and dark green on the upper surface and paler below. The flowers bloom from spring to summer in clusters forming 6-inch spikes. Each flower is made of 1 purple petal and 10 stamens with yellow anthers extending outward. The fruit is a legume containing 2 seeds.

Ecological Information ⁷

False indigo is found in the Rio Grande Bosque area typically in cool shady spots. It does best in moist soils in canyons and along running water at elevations of 4,000 to 6,000 feet. It is a great plant for landscaping as it helps prevent erosion and is rarely attacked by insects or diseases. The roots of false indigo form symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and nodules in its roots help to fix atmospheric nitrogen. This allows it to grow in poorer soils.

Ethnobotanical Information ⁷

Amorpha fruticosa was used by early settlers as an alternative to real Indigo to make a blue colored dye, hence its common name "false indigo". The crushed fruit has been used as a condiment and there has been some evidence that it may be useful in helping people with metabolic disease.

References ⁹

1. wikipedia.com
2. www.laspilitas.ocm
3. Missouribotanicalgarden.com

Washington State Univerisy. (2013, November 13). Indigo Bush. https://extension.wsu.edu/whitman/2013/11/indigobush/

Plants for a Future. (2020, December). Amorpha fruticosa. https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Amorpha+fruticosa

Carter, Carter, and Stevens. (2009). Common Southwestern Native Plants. (pp. 120-121). Silver City, NM. Mimbres Publishing.

Kozuharova, E., Matkowski, A., Woźniak, D., Simeonova, R., Naychov, Z., Malainer, C., Mocan, A., Nabavi, S. M., & Atanasov, A. G. (2017). Amorpha fruticosa - A Noxious Invasive Alien Plant in Europe or a Medicinal Plant against Metabolic Disease?. Frontiers in pharmacology, 8, 333. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00333

About the Author ¹⁰

Student author(s)*: Pearl (age 5) from Chinook Spirit Children’s Academy and Philip (age 10).

*The entries in this field guide have been edited by Yerba Mansa Project staff to ensure that they contain quality, fact-checked content and standardized formatting. https://yerbamansaproject.org/

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Andreas Rockstein, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/74738817@N07/35344539073/
2. (c) chinookspirit, all rights reserved
3. (c) Andreas Rockstein, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/74738817@N07/35454653502/
4. (c) Leonora (Ellie) Enking, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/33037982@N04/14399949316/
5. (c) Gertjan van Noord, some rights reserved (CC BY-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/gertjanvannoord/24195925158/
6. (c) Gertjan van Noord, some rights reserved (CC BY-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/gertjanvannoord/37994585826/
7. Adapted by albuquerqueherbalism from a work by (c) smiller33, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
8. Adapted by albuquerqueherbalism from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorpha
9. Adapted by Hannah from a work by (c) caseynm, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
10. Adapted by albuquerqueherbalism from a work by (c) caseynm, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos

iNat Map