About
Contact
Links
Electronic Flora of South Australia
Electronic Flora of South Australia
Census of SA Plants, Algae & Fungi
Identification tools
 

Electronic Flora of South Australia species Fact Sheet

Family: Fabaceae
Indigofera brevidens

Citation: Benth. in T.L. Mitchell, J. Trop. Austral. 385 (1848) var. brevidens.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Desert indigo.

Description:
Greyish somewhat woody perennial sometimes procumbent slender subshrub, with branches to 50 cm long, silky-grey; leaves 3-6 cm long; leaflets 5-15, obovate-cuneate, 3-15 x 1.5-7, obtuse to slightly truncate, mucronate, flat or somewhat conduplicate, grey-pubescent with appressed forked hairs on both surfaces; stipules filiform, 1-2 mm long, grey-pubescent; stipels reduced to reddish filiform glands, less than 1 mm long.

Inflorescence a pedunculate upright raceme, 2.5-25 cm long, at least twice as long as the leaves, with few to many (to 40 or more) flowers, firstly condensed, later loose; pedicels slender, distinct, 0.5-1.5 mm long, white-pubescent; bracts filiform, c. 2 mm long, white-pubescent, caducous; calyx at first campanulate, to 3 mm long, later truncate at the base and oblique at the top, white-pubescent, the unequal teeth spreading; the upper 2 very short or obsolete; the lower 3 distinct, lanceolate, the lowest as long as the tube; petals reddish or pink; standard obovate, 4-7 mm long, slightly silky-grey on the back, distinctly veined; wings narrow-obovate, shorter; keel acute, pubescent on the lower part, often slightly exceeding the standard.

Pod linear, 20-30 x c. 3 mm, greyish-brown, with distinct sutures, white-pubescent, pendulous, 6-12-seeded; seeds oblique, c. 1.5 mm, brown, dull.

Published illustration: Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 397.

Distribution:    W.Aust.; N.T.; Qld; N.S.W., generally in sandy plains of dunes.

Conservation status: native

Flowering time: probably the whole year round, mostly July — Sept.


SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: Differs from I. australis and I. uncinata in having quite succulent often prostrate stems arising from the woody base.

Author: Not yet available


Disclaimer Copyright Disclaimer Copyright Email Contact:
State Herbarium of South Australia
Government of South Australia Government of South Australia Government of South Australia Department for Environment and Water