Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Plains wild indigo

PLAINS WILD INDIGO

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Baptisia bracteata Muhl. ex Elliott var. leucophaea (Nutt. ) Kartesz & Gandhi

Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 8-30 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: April, May

Also Called:

Long-bracted wild indigo.

Stems:

Erect or ascending, much-branched above, silky-hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, nearly sessile, usually 3-foliolate; leaflets lanceolate, spatulate, or elliptic, 1 to 4 inches long, 1/4 to 1 inch wide; margins entire; tips rounded or pointed; stipules ovate to lanceolate, .75 to 1.5 inches long, about 1/3 size of leaflets; tips tapering to points.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, showy, many-flowered, 4 to 8 inches long, terminal, bending downward.

Flowers:

Bracts oblong or lanceolate, .5 to 1.25 inch long; calyces 2-lipped, upper lip entire to 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed, stiff-hairy; corollas papilionaceous, about 1 inch long, cream or pale yellow; banner not longer than wings; stamens 10, separate.

Fruits:

Pods, oval, 1 to 2 inches long, beaked, pubescent; seeds about 1/6 inch long, brown to olive.

Habitat:

Sandy or rocky prairies, pastures and roadsides.

Distribution:

East 1/2 of Kansas.

Toxicity:

The foliage of young plants can be poisonous to livestock if consumed in large quantities.

Uses:

The Pawnee treated colic by rubbing a mixture of pulverized wild indigo seeds and bison fat on the abdomen.

Comments:

The roots of plains wild indigo can grow to 6 feet long.