Show Lower Taxa
Baptisia australis
Hortus Kew. 3: 6. 1811.
Common names: Blue wild indigo
Endemic
Basionym: Sophora australis Linnaeus Syst. Nat. ed. 12, 2: 287. 1767
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 11.
Herbs robust, low-spreading, 0.5–1.5 m, glabrous. Leaves petiolate; stipules mostly persistent, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 3–15 mm; petiole 4–12 mm; leaflets 3, blades obovate to oblanceolate. Racemes 8+-flowered, terminal, bracteate, bracts caducous. Pedicels 5–12 mm. Flowers 22–26 mm; calyx 8–12 mm, glabrous; corolla dull violet to deep blue, 20–24 mm. Legumes erect to ascending-divergent, ellipsoid-oblong to asymmetric-ovoid, 30–50 × 10–30 mm, leathery becoming brittle, glabrous. Seeds 20–30. 2n = 18.
Distribution
c, e North America.
Discussion
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Selected References
None.
Key
| 1 | Legumes 10–20 mm wide; stipes 4–8 mm in fruit; ne United States. | Baptisia australis var. australis |
| 1 | Legumes much inflated, 20–30 mm wide; stipes 8–12 mm in fruit; Ontario and sc United States. | Baptisia australis var. minor |