Baptisia albescens Small

Spiked Wild Indigo; Narrow Pod White Wild Indigo

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Perennial

Vascular

Spiked Wild Indigo is a native herbaceous perennial in the Bean family (Fabaceae). It occurs in the eastern-most counties of Alabama along the Georgia state line. Spiked Wild Indigo grows in open pine or pine-oak woodlands, in forest clearings, and on roadsides and roadside banks. It usually occurs on drier sites than White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba (Linnaeus) Ventenat). Spiked Wild Indigo is a perennial from a crown with tough rope-like roots. One or more stems emerges from each crown. The stems are 2-3 feet in height, green or purplish in color, and sparsely pubescent becoming glabrous. The stems are often glaucous. The stems are freely branched above the middle. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, trifoliate, and glabrous. The leaflets are narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate in outline, glabrous, with entire margins. Flowers are produced in an erect terminal raceme. The flowers are stalked, papilionaceous, and white in color. The standard petal is marked with dark purple in its center. The fruit is a tan inflated legume. The fruit is cylindrical in outline and about 3× as long as the diameter. Spiked Wild Indigo is sometimes available from native plant nurseries. It prefers a sunny location and is not particular about soil type. It can be used as a specimen plant or at the back of a perennial bed.--A. Diamond

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Native

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