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(Last Modified On 9/30/2013)
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(Last Modified On 9/30/2013)
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Genus
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INDIGOFERA L.
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Contributor
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Peter S. White
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. P1. 751. 1753
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Note
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LECTOTYPE: Indigofera tinctoria L. (India).
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Synonym
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Anil Mill., Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4. 1754. TYPE: Anil, sive Indigo Americana, siliquis . . . Mill. Indigofera tinctoria L. Anil(a) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 1: 159. 2: 938, 965. 1891. Based on Indigofera L.
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Description
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Herbs or shrubs; more or less strigose with pale appressed hairs attached by their centers, these hairs often lending a gray green appearance to the plant. Leaves imparipinnate or pinnately or digitately 3-foliolate, less commonly simple; usually short-petioled; leaflets entire, venation, except for the midvein, obscure; stipels present, often inconspicuous; stipules setaceous, deciduous, apparently slightly adnate to the petioles. Inflorescence of axillary racemes or spikes, often dense, pedicels short or apparently absent, the flowers single in the axil of a caducous bract, the bracteoles absent. Flowers usually reddish or white, the hypanthium campanulate, the 5 calyx lobes subequal, corolla more or less pu- bescent outside, the standard broad, circular, subsessile, strigose outside, the wing petals oblong, somewhat adherent to the keel, auriculate, the keel petals coherent, laterally spurred; stamens 10, diadelphous, the vexillary stamen free, the sheath slender, the anthers with an apical projection; ovary slender, sessile, few to many ovulate, usually strigose, the style short, bent upward, glabrous, the stigma capitate. Fruits oblong or linear, rarely globose, curved or straight, usually terete or 4-angled, not usually compressed, dehiscent or apparently indehiscent, septate between the seeds; seeds globose to cylindric and truncate, compressed or 4-angled, attached at the middle.
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Habit
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Herbs or shrubs
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Note
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Indigofera is a genus of some 800 species
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Distribution
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in the warmer to tropical regions of both the New and Old Worlds and is particularly diverse in Africa.
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Note
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About 10 species occur in Central America, of which 4 are native in Panama. The Old World species Indigofera tinctoria L., formerly in cultivation in Central America, is perhaps to be looked for in Panama as persistent on old sites of cultivation. It has become naturalized in the West Indies (Rydberg, 1923) but apparently has not spread much from cultivation in Central America (Standley and Steyermark, 1946). Indigofera tinctoria L. resembles I. suffruticosa Mill. (described below) but has pods straight or slightly curved, 6-12 seeded, and 2-4 cm long. The 4 species in Panama, weeds in the dry zones of the country, are easily recognized due to their gray green cast which results from pale, appressed, me- difixed hairs. Additional unusual characters are the appendaged anthers and sep- tate legumes. There is a tendency for Indigofera species to darken on drying. The flowers are "slightly explosive," the stamens and pistil being under some tension within the keel petals and springing outward when the petals are parted. Indigofera was formerly economically important as the source of the blue dye indigo. Before the cultivation of coffee, this was the most important export crop of Central America. Indigo is no longer extracted from the plant, synthetic dyes having supplanted the natural source. The final decline of the industry was prob- ably in the mid- to late 1800's. The extraction procedure exposed workers to toxic chemicals (Standley, 1928). Cut plants were fermented in vats of water, after which they were trampled by the workers. Eventually the indigo settled to the bottom of the vats as a precipitate (Standley, 1928; Standley and Steyermark, 1946; see also colorful accounts in Miller, 1768, and Lunan, 1814, and also the references cited in Taylor, 1976). The most important species for indigo manu- facture in Central America were the native Indigofera suffruticosa and the intro- duced I. tinctoria. Indigofera species apparently contain compounds with medicinal properties (Blohm, 1962; Standley and Steyermark, 1946), but medicines prepared from the plants can also have poisonous effects (Blohm, 1962). The seeds of several species are said to be poisonous. In Brazil, the roots of Indigofera lespedezioides H.B.K. and I. suffruticosa were used as fish poisons; the macerated roots were also used as an insecticide (Miller, 1768; Lunan, 1814; Blohm, 1962).
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Reference
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Blohm, H. 1962. Poisonous plants of Venezuela. Stuttgart. Lunan, J. 1814. Hortus jamaicensis. Vol. 1. Jamaica. 538 pp. Miller, P. 1768. Gardener's Dictionary, edition 8.
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Key
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a. Leaflets 7-19, the fruits either strongly constricted between the seeds or strongly curved. b. Fruits straight or slightly curved and strongly constricted between the seeds ...... 3. I. panamensis bb. Fruits strongly curved, not constricted between the seeds -4. I. suffruticosa aa. Leaflets 1-7, the fruits neither strongly constricted between the seeds nor strongly curved. c. Erect plant, leaves 1-5(-7) foliolate, the leaflets ascending, widest toward tip, cuneate at base, fruits 12-20 mm long ...... 2. I. lespedezioides cc. Sprawling or suberect plant, leaves 5(-7) foliolate, the leaflets not ascending, widest near the middle, rounded at base, fruits (20-)25-35 mm long ...... 1. I. jamaicensis
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