Common name: False Indigo
Family: Fabaceae, Bean or Pea
Height x width: 2-4' x 1-4'
Growth rate: slow
Foliage: alternate, gray-green, 3-parted compound leaves, some with stipules (small, leaf-like structures) as leaf bases
Flowers: white, yellow or blue pea-like flowers in racemes
Hardiness: zones 3-5 through 8
Soil: prefer deep and rich, well-drained, tolerate poor,
Light: sun
Pests and problems: few, voles
Landscape habit, uses: herbaceous shrub in borders, specimen, nice dark brown pods with seeds rattling inside add nice fall interest
Other interest: genus name from Greek bapto meaning to dip, refering to past use as substitute dye for indigo; Prairieblues series from Chicagoland Grows, bred by Jim Ault at Chicago Botanic Garden; other major breeder is Tony Avent, Plant Delights Nursery, NC
Other culture: resents transplanting
Propagation: seeds, division, cuttings
Species:
alba (al' ba)--White Wild Indigo, zones 5-8, 2-3' x 3', 12-20" long racemes of white flowers in late spring for 3-4 weeks, cylindrical fruit bluish white leaves with no stipules, less leaf diseases than other species
australis (aus-tral' iss)--False Blue Indigo, zones 3-8, 3-4' x 6', indigo blue flowers in spring for 4 weeks, brown to black seed pods mid-summer through fall, stake if not in full sun; Perennial Plant of the Year for 2010
bracteata (brac-tee-ah' tah)--similar to alba only more spreading, more pendulous, more pubescent, large persistent stipules
lactea (lac-tee' ah)--Prairie False Indigo, native to Midwest and Plains, upright white racems in late spring, blue-green foliage, stipules fall off, broad fruit
leucantha: lactea
leucophaea: bracteata
minor (my' nor)--Lesser Wild Indigo, similar to australis only half the size, often offered as a cultivar of australis
sphaerocarpa (sphair-o-car' pah)--zones 5-8, similar to tinctoria, light yellow flowers, blue-green foliage, native to Arkansas and Oklahoma
tinctoria (teenc-tore' ee-ah)--Yellow Wild Indigo, zones 5-8, 2-4' x 1', variously yellow 4-20 flowers in 4-5" arching racemes, for sunny meadow or informal garden
villosa: bracteata
Cultivars:
(hybrids unless noted)
| Cultivars, other taxa | species | flowers | other |
| 'Carolina Moonlight' | sphaerocarpa x alba | light yellow | from NC bot. garden |
| 'Midnite Prairieblues' | complex hybrid | deep blue-violet | long bloom period |
| 'Pendula' | alba | white | pendulous seedpods |
| 'Purple Smoke' | australis x alba | smokey blue | |
| 'Screaming Yellow' | sphaerocarpa | bright yellow | |
| 'Solar Flare Prairieblues' | complex hybrid | yellow turning orange | |
| 'Starlite Prairieblues' | australis x bracteata | blue/cream keel | |
| 'Twilite Prairieblues' | australis x sphaerocarpa | violet purple/cream keel |
(Carolina Moonlight photo courtesy thelibrarian2003, photobucket.com)
©Authored by Dr. Leonard Perry, Professor, University of Vermont as part of PSS123 course.
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