3. Baptisia Villosa (Walt.) Nutt. Hairy-Wild Indigo

Fig. 2455

Sophora villosa Walt. Fl. Car. 134. 1788.

Baptisia villosa Nutt. Gen. 1: 281. 1818.

Erect, branched, 2°-4° high, more or less pubescent throughout, especially when young. Leaves very short-petioled or sessile, 3-foliolate, turning dark in drying; leaflets oblong, oval, or obovate, obtusish at the apex, narrowed or cuneate at the base, 2'-4' long, entire; stipules lanceolate or subulate, much longer than the petioles, persistent or the upper deciduous; racemes lateral, sometimes 10' long, loosely many-flowered; pedicels 3"-4" long; flowers yellow, about I long; bracts caducous or deciduous; pods oblong-ovoid, about 1 1/2' long, finely appressed-pubescent, long-stalked in the calyx, tipped with the subulate style.

In dry soil, Virginia and North Carolina to Florida, west to Arkansas. June-July.

4. Baptisia Bracteàta Ell. Large-Bracted Wild Indigo

Fig. 2456

Podalyria bracteata Muhl. Cat. 42. Without description. 1813. B. bracteata Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 469. 1817. Baptisia leucophaea Nutt. Gen. 1: 382. 1818.

Erect or ascending, low, bushy-branched, villous-pubescent throughout. Leaves sessile or short-petioled, 3-foliolate, dark green or brownish in drying; leaflets oblanceolate or spatulate, narrowed or cuneate at the base, obtuse or acutish at the apex, 1 1/2'-3' long, 4"-8" wide, thick, reticulate-veined; stipules lanceolate, or ovate, persistent; racemes usually few, mainly lateral, sometimes 1° long, reclining, many-flowered; flowers white or cream-color, about 1' long, very showy; pedicels slender, 6"-15" long, spreading, somewhat secund; bracts large and persistent; pods ovoid, mostly narrowed at the base, 1'-2' long, pubescent, tipped with a long at length deciduous style.

Prairies, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota to South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. April-May. Yellowish false-indigo.

5. Baptisia Alba (L.) R. Br. White Wild Indigo

Fig. 2457

Crotalaria alba L. Sp. Pl. 716. 1753.

Baptisia alba R. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. Ed. 2, 3: 6. 1811.

Glabrous throughout, divergently branching, 1°-3° high. Leaves petioled, 3-foliolate; petioles slender, 3"-q" long; leaflets oblong or oblanceolate, narrowed at the base, obtuse at the apex, i'-i 1/2' long, 4"-6" wide, rather thin, green in drying; stipules and bracts minute, subulate, early deciduous; racemes elongated, erect, 6'-10' long, lateral, long-peduncled; pedicels 3"-8" long; flowers white, 6"-7" long; pod linear-oblong, about 1 1/2' long, 4" thick, short-stalked in the calyx, abruptly tipped with an almost filiform deciduous style.

In dry soil, North Carolina to Florida. Recorded from Missouri and southern Indiana, but we have seen no specimens collected west or north of the South Atlantic States. Erroneously recorded from Minnesota and Ontario. May-June. Prairie-indigo.

6. Baptisia Leucántha T. & G. Large White Wild Indigo

Fig. 2458

Baptisia leucantha T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1: 385. 1840.

Glabrous throughout, succulent, branching, 2°-4° high, the branches stout, ascending. Leaves petioled; 3-foliolate, blackening in drying; leaflets obovate or oblanceolate, l'-2' long, 6"-12" wide, very obtuse, rounded and sometimes slightly emarginate at the apex, narrowed or cuneate at the base; stipules lanceolate or linear, equalling or shorter than the petioles, deciduous; racemes lateral, sometimes 1° long, loosely flowered; flowers white, 9"-10" long; pedicels 2" - 3" long; pod ellipsoid, long-stalked in the calyx, about 9" long, tipped with the subulate style.

In rich soil, Ontario to Minnesota, south to Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida, Kansas, Arkansas and Texas. June-July. White false-indigo.