Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Amorpha glabra
FAMILY
Fabaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Mountain Indigo-bush from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Amorpha glabra
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Amorpha glabra
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-18-004:
Amorpha glabra FAMILY Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Amorpha glabra
COMMON NAME:
Mountain Indigo-bush, Appalachian Indigo-bush, Mountain Indigo, Mountain False Indigo
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
JK Marlow jkm230228_1327
February Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Sometimes there are terminal, spikelike remnants of the fruit-bearing stems in winter, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm230228_1328
February Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm090425_036
April Pickens County SC
Nine Times Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm230418_2631
April Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Flowers borne in dense erect terminal racemes, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).
)
JK Marlow jkm230418_2634
April Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm110507_288
May Pickens County SC
Jocassee Gorges
Calyx lobes obolete or nearly so or weakly undulate, longest usually < 0.6mm, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm110507_290
May Pickens County SC
Jocassee Gorges
)
JK Marlow jkm200508_4723
May Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm200508_4725
May Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm200508_4727
May Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Petioles typically much exceeding the width of the lowest leaflet, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
COMPARE
pinnately compound leaves of shrubs
)
Ron Lance rwl73_a
May
Leaves mostly with 11-19 leaflets, each gland-tipped, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).
)
Ron Lance rwl73_a2
May
1-4 terminal racemes, (5)10-28cm long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm090726_149
July Buncombe County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm090726_153
July Buncombe County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
Midvein of leaflet terminating in a globose glandular tip, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm230706_4284
July Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm230720_4609
July Greenville County SC
Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm230720_4667
July Greenville County SC
Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve
A shrub 1-2m tall, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm231010_5945
October Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Legume asymmetrically oblong to obovoid, often curved, conspicuously pustulate-glandular, glabrous, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Amorpha glabra
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Amorpha glabra
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Amorpha glabra
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-18-004:
Amorpha glabra
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Amorpha glabra
73
Shrub
Perennial
Habitat: Dry to dry-mesic ridgetop and slope forests, primarily at low elevations around the higher Blue Ridge (such as eastwards in the Blue Ridge escarpment), per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Uncommon in NC, rare in GA & SC
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Deciduous
Odd-pinnately compound: 11-19 leaflets, usually
Mostly alternate
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Bright purple
5-lobed calyx
1 petal
10 stamens
Superior ovary
Usually bisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Legume
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p087
- How to Recognize Shrubs (Grimm, 1966) p151
- Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast (Foote & Jones, 1989) p079
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance) p08
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p059
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".