Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 169 



WILD INDIGO (Baptisia tinctoria) is a very 

 branchy and very bushy herb. The stem divides 

 soon after it leaves the ground, the slender branch- 

 lets extending equally in all directions so that the 

 appearance of the whole plant, from a distance, is 

 often that of a large, bluish-green globe. The leaves 

 are three-parted, wedge-shaped, dull green with a 

 white bloom that gives them a bluish-green appear- 

 ance. The yellow, butterfly-shaped flowers are in 

 loose clusters at the ends of all the branches. They 

 are visited by many of the small butterflies and small 

 bees. After fertilization, the flowers turn blackish. 



The roots of Wild Indigo are used by drug concerns 

 for the compounding of a number of medicines. An 

 indigo dye, of a poor quality, can also be made from 

 the plant. Wild Indigo grows in dry or sandy soil 

 from Maine to Minnesota, flowering from June to Sep- 

 tember. 



RATTLEBOX (Crotalaria sagittalis) receives its 

 name because the seeds rattle about in the large, 

 inflated, blackish, seed-pod. It is an annual herb, 

 with a hairy, bending stem and stemless, toothless, 

 pointed-oval leaves alternating along it. The yellow, 

 pea-like flowers are in small clusters at the ends of 

 the branches. It is found in sandy soil, chiefly along 

 the coast, from Mass, to Fla. and Texas and, in the 

 Mississippi basin, to Indiana and South Dakota. 



PRAIRIE CLOVER (Petalostemum purpureum) is 



an upright perennial herb, with the smooth stem 

 crowded with leaves, compounded of five, narrowly- 

 linear leaflets. The flowers are small and crowded in 

 dense terminal spikes; they are purple or rose- color- 

 ed, have a small standard and four petals on thread- 

 like claws. It is found on dry prairies west of the 

 Mississippi. 



