56 Baptisia tinctoria. 
Wild indigo is a common plant in the United States, being found 
in every state of the union. It promiscuously inhabits a variety of 
- situations, though almost always in adry soil. Itseems to prefer the 
borders of dry hilly woods, being found in most abundance in such 
places ; yet the borders of thickets, and the edges of cultivated fields, 
are frequently decorated by the numerous gay flowers of this pretty 
plant. It is seldom seen in moist situations ; though on the edges of 
low woods in Jersey, and sometimes in the marshy thickets it is met 
with : and it must be acknowledged, that in these situations it does not 
appear to deteriorate; so that I fancy it possesses a flexible constitu- 
tion, enabling it to accommodate itself with facility, to many scites 
widely discrepant in the nature and effect of their peculiar soils. 
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. 
Both the root and plant may be used for medical purposes. The 
former has no smell, but is subacrid and a little nauseous to the taste. 
This remark applies only to the bark of the root, which is thick. 
Though wild indigo is manifestly an active plant, it has excited, 
hitherto, comparatively, little attention among any other than empi- 
rical practitioners; but among the latter I am strongly inclined to 
suspect itis very generally used. It has happened to me on several 
