Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

False Blue Indigo is an introduced (in Minnesota) erect perennial forb, growing from 2 to 4 feet high in bush form on stout smooth green stems. Stems become blackened and woody after seed production but usually remain upright overwinter and can then be discarded in the spring before new growth starts.

The leaves are trifoliate and alternate, with oblanceolate leaflets (widest above the middle) that have bluntly pointed tips, smooth margins and are stalkless. The leaf itself has a short stalk and there is a pair of small stipules at the base of the leaf stalk. Leaves appear about one month before the flowers. They turn blackish in the fall.

The inflorescence is a spike-like raceme held above the leaves.

The flowers are perfect, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long and are on short stalks with corollas in varying shades of blue. The green calyx is tubular with 5 short rounded lobes which turn outward at the tips when the flower opens. The corolla forms a pea-type flower consisting of 5 petals with the large upper banner petal turned upward with a notch at the center of the tip. There are two lateral petals projecting forward which enclose two keel petals that are usually white, which in turn, house the reproductive parts, which include 10 stamens with yellow anthers and a single style. Large insects such as bumblebees can force open the keel petals where they touch together to reach the pollen contained inside.

Seed: Fertile flowers produce an oblong inflated seed pod with the calyx firmly attached at one end and the remains of the style at the other. The pod is green at first then turning black at maturity. The pod contains a number of brown kidney shaped seeds which are loose in the pod when mature. The pod splits open at maturity to release the seeds by wind or bird dispersion. As the stems and racemes become somewhat woody, pods frequently over-winter. Seeds can be germinated in the spring after a short period of cold storage, but not all will be viable. They also require scarification. Outdoor sowing in the fall does not require scarification.

Habitat: False Blue Indigo forms a shrub like mound, growing from a branched rhizomatous root system. If grown from seed, the plant will require several years of growth before a flower stem is produced and about five years to form a nice clump averaging 3 feet in height. It grows best in rich loamy soil in full sun with moist to mesic conditions. It will tolerate partial shade, and even flower, but the stems will be weak. It is pest free in northern climates where it can survive in zone 3. It can make a good garden specimen but not for cut flower stems, as they turn black when drying begins. Be careful with broadleaf weed herbicides as they will kill the plant.

Names: The true Indigo, from whose leaves is made blue indigo dye, is Indigofera tinctoria with pink to violet flowers, hence these Baptisias with blue or white flowers have been termed "false". The genus name Baptisia is from the Greek word bapto, meaning 'to dye.' A dye can be made from the 'false' plant but it is inferior. The species name australis means "southern," referring to the the plants absence in the northern states. The author name for the plant classification is complex - see notes below.

Comparisons: Similar in appearance is the False White Indigo, B. alba, which has white flowers, larger leaflets, branched, and is a taller plant with the flower raceme held higher.