0067 



FALSE INDIGO. 



Family: LEGUMINOSAE 



Reproductive system: DlADELPHY, DECANDRY 



The false indigo, Amorpha fruticosa 9 Linn., is a tall shrub ten to twelve feet high. 

 Its trunk is grayish and densely branched. The leaves are pinnate, composed of fifteen to 

 nineteen leaflets, ovate, and obtuse. The petioles have two stipules. The flowers form 

 long compact terminal spikes. The corolla is violet, without wings or keel. The calyx has 

 five points; four are blunt and one is acuminate. There are ten projecting stamens. The 

 fruit is a falcate pod. 



FLOWERS: June and July. 



RANGE: Carolina. It was introduced into England in 1724. It has been grown in 

 open ground for a long time in France. 



The dwarf amorpha, Amorpha pumila, Mich. [Translator's note: same as A. 

 herbacea] is a shrub with a cylindrical stem covered with light down. The leaves are 

 alternate, pinnate, and consist of twenty-five to twenty-nine leaflets, alternate or opposite, 

 oblong, entire, and like those of the above species, marked with several transparent 

 vesicles. The flowers form reddish-blue spikes. They have a calyx with five acuminate 

 teeth and ten projecting stamens. 



FLOWERS: July. 



RANGE: North America. It was discovered and brought to France by Michaux. 

 [Translator 's note: Andre Michaux, a noted French botanist, was sent to the United 

 States at the behest of Thomas Jefferson and King Louis XVI to promote exchanges of 

 plants and trees between the two countries. He stayed in America from 1 785 tol 796, 

 traveling widely and establishing nurseries in New Jersey and in South Carolina. After 

 his return to France, his son Francis-Andre continued his father's work in America.] 



NOMENCLATURE: Amorpha, unformed or without a shape, because the flower 

 has neither wings nor keel, like those of the papilionaceae [Translator's note: a subfamily 

 of Leguminosae] to which it belongs. German, der unform. English, the shrubby bastard 

 indigo. 



USES. Young shoots of the first species above are indeed used in America to 

 prepare a kind of indigo. 



