Blue Wild Indigo

Baptisia australis

Summary 7

Baptisia australis, commonly known as blue wild indigo or blue false indigo, is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae (legumes). It is toxic. It is native to much of central and eastern North America and is particularly common in the Midwest, but it has also been introduced well beyond its natural range. Naturally it can be found growing wild at the borders of woods, along streams or in open meadows. It often has difficulty seeding...

Comments 8

This is a favorite garden plant because of its showy flowers and attractive foliage. There is a dwarf variety of Blue Wild Indigo, Baptisia australis minor, that occurs in prairies of the southern and central Great Plains. This variety is smaller in overall size, but it has slightly larger fragrant flowers. Sometimes this variety is classified as a distinct species, Baptisia minor. Both the typical variety and the dwarf variety have blue flowers. Other Wild Indigos (Baptisia spp.) can be distinguished by their differently colored flowers, varying from white to yellow. There are also some differences in the characteristics of their leaves, stipules, inflorescences, and growth form, making them fairly easy to differentiate. Lupines (Lupinus spp.) can be distinguished from Wild Indigos by the greater number of leaflets (more than 3) in their palmately compound leaves. Another interesting difference is the lack of nectaries in the flowers of lupines.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Kingsbrae Garden, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/32598399@N00/2578048757
  2. (c) Justice, W. S., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10320456
  3. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10286950
  4. (c) "<a href=""http://www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov/"">USDA NRCS Texas State Office</a>.", some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://plants.usda.gov/gallery/large/baau_003_lvp.jpg
  5. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/photox/bl_indigo1.jpg
  6. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/photox/bl_indigo2.jpg
  7. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptisia_australis
  8. (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29441537

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