N. ORD.—LEGUMINOS-A. 52 
Tribe.—SOFHOREA ET PODALYRIEA. 
GENUS.—BAPTISIA,* VENT. 
SEX, SYST.—DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
BAPTISIA. 
WILD INDIGO. 
SYN.—BAPTISIA TINCTORIA, R. BR.; SOPHORA TINCTORIA, LINN.; POD- 
ALYRIA TINCTORIA, MICHX. 
COM. NAMES.—WILD INDIGO, FALSE INDIGO, INDIGO WEED, YELLOW 
WILD INDIGO, DYER’S BAPTISIA, HORSEFLY WEED, RATTLE BUSH, 
YELLOW BROOM, CLOVER BROOM; (FR.) INDIGO SAUVAGE, INDIGO 
TREFLE; (GER.) BAPTISIE. = 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH ROOT OF BAPTISIA TINCTORIA, R.BR. 
Description.—This slender, glaucous, perennial, bushy-branching herb, grows 
to a height of from 2 to 3 feet. oot large, irregular, ligneous, light yellowish- 
brown internally, blackish externally; voot/e¢s numerous and lighter in color. 
Leaves palmately 3-foliate, sessile or nearly so, becoming like all other portions of 
the plant—even the yellow flowers—black, when dry; /eaflets 1% to 34 inch long, 
rounded or cuneate-obovate, dark bluish-green with a light green stripe on the 
midrib; stzpules and érvacts minute, caducous. /nflorescence short, loose, few- 
flowered racemes, terminal upon the branches; flowers canary-yellow, about as 
long as the leaflets. Calyx cup-shaped; 4mé 4-toothed, the upper tooth double, 
therefore broader than the rest. Corolla: standard about the length of the wings, 
or slightly shorter, emarginate, and reflexed laterally ; 4ee/ somewhat incurved, 
the two petals composing it nearly separate, straight; wags oblong, straight. 
Stamens 10, distinct; anthers alike and uniform. Ovary stipitate; style curved, 
dilated below; stigma minute. /vuzt an oval, centrally inflated, mucronate legume, 
stalked in the persistent cup of the calyx; séfe nearly twice the length of the 
calyx-cup. Seeds many, ovoid, cinnamon-brown; 47/um small, rounded ; embryo 
straight or incurved. Read description of Leguminose under Genista tinctoria, 
46. 
History and Habitat.—Wild Indigo is indigenous to the Canadas and the 
United States. It grows as far south as Florida and west to the Mississippi, 
plentifully however only near the coast, where it delights in the dry, sandy soils, 
* panrisw, Baptizo, 1 dye. Some species yielding an inferior indigo dye. 
