White wild indigo

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White wild indigo leaves

White wild indigo calyces

White wild indigo habit

White wild indigo inflorescence

White wild indigo

White wild indigo

White wild indigo fruit

White wild indigo

White wild indigo

White wild indigo flowers

White wild indigo

White wild indigo leaf

White wild indigo inflorescence

White wild indigo flowers

White wild indigo stamens

Morphology

Stem

Erect, solitary with ascending branches, glabrous, waxy.

Leaves

Alternate, 3-foliolate, on stalks 1/5 to 1 inch long; stipules 1/5 to 1.2 inches long, lanceolate to ovate, usually falling before or during flowering; leaflets narrowly egg-shaped, oblanceolate, or elliptic, 1 to 3 inches long.

Inflorescence

Racemes, 1-several, stout, terminal; central one 8 to 24 inches long.

Flower

Stalks 1/8 to 1/2 inch long; bracts ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, usually dropping before or during flowering; calyx tube 1/3 inch long, 2-lipped, upper lip entire or notched, lower lip 3-lobed, lobes triangular; corolla papilionaceous, white; banner 2/5 to 3/5 inch long, shorter than wings; wings and keel straight, 4/5 to 1 inch; stamens 10, distinct.

Fruit

Pod, ellipsoid-oblong, 1/10 to 1/5 inch long, glabrous, drooping, black when mature; tip narrowed to short beak; seeds olive to yellowish-brown, covered with wart-like projections.

Ecology

Habitat

Rocky prairie hillsides and ravines, stream valleys, and roadsides

Distribution

Principally in the east 1/3 of Kansas, but occasionally further west.

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.