Indigofera
| Indigofera | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Indigofera tinctoria | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Tribe: | Indigofereae |
| Genus: | Indigofera L.[1] |
| Type species | |
| Indigofera tinctoria L. | |
| Species | |
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See text. | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Indigofera is a large genus of over 750 species[2] of flowering plants belonging to the pea family Fabaceae and is widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.[1] Plants in the genus Indigofera are perennial herbs, shrubs or subshrubs with simple, or divided leaves, flowers arranged in racemes in leaf axils, and fruit containing spherical, cylindrical or cube-shaped seeds.
Description
[edit]Plants in the genus Indigofera are perennial herbs, subshrubs or shrubs, rarely annual herbs or small trees, that usually have soft hairs on the stems. The leaves are arranged alternately, unifoliate, trifoiate, or imparipinnate with five to many leaflets, often with stipules that are sometimes spiny.[3][4][5]
The flowers are borne in racemes in leaf axils with more or less equal sepals, sometimes the lowermost sepals longer, the sinus between the upper lobes v- to u-shaped. The petals are red or pink to purple, sometimes white or yellow, the standard petal hairy on the lower surface and the keel sickle-shaped and hairy at the tip. There are ten stamens, three joined together and one free, the filaments alternating long and short, the anthers glabrous, with tufts of hairs. The ovary is sessile, usually hairy, with one, two or many ovules.[3][4][5]
The fruit is linear, oblong, egg-shaped, cylindrical or four-sided in cross section and usually dehiscent,[3][4][5][6] but show a trend towards indehiscence.[7]
Species
[edit]As of April 2025[update], Plants of the World Online accepted over 760 species worldwide.[8]
Selected species:
- Indigofera adesmiifolia A.Gray (N.S.W., Vic., Qld., A.C.T.)
- Indigofera amblyantha Craib (China)
- Indigofera ammobia Maconochie (W.A., N.T.)
- Indigofera arrecta Hochst. ex A.Rich.
- Indigofera astragalina DC.
- Indigofera australis Willd.
- Indigofera basedowii E.Pritz.
- Indigofera candicans Aiton
- Indigofera caroliniana Mill.
- Indigofera cassioides Rottler ex DC.
- Indigofera cloiselii Drake
- Indigofera cordifolia B.Heyne ex Roth
- Indigofera decora Lindl.
- Indigofera galegoides DC.
- Indigofera georgei E.Pritz.
- Indigofera glaucescens Eckl. & Zeyh.
- Indigofera hendecaphylla Jacq.
- Indigofera heterantha Wall. ex Brandis
- Indigofera hilaris Eckl. & Zeyh.
- Indigofera himalayensis Ali
- Indigofera hirsuta L.
- Indigofera howellii Craib & W.W.Sm.
- Indigofera kirilowii Maxim. ex Palibin
- Indigofera linifolia (L.f.) Retz.
- Indigofera marmorata Balf.f.
- Indigofera miniata Ortega
- Indigofera monophylla DC.
- Indigofera nephrocarpoides J.B.Gillett
- Indigofera nummulariifolia (L.) Livera ex Alston
- Indigofera pendula Franch.
- Indigofera rothii Baker
- Indigofera sokotrana Vierh.
- Indigofera spicata Forssk.
- Indigofera suffruticosa Mill.
- Indigofera szechuensis Craib
- Indigofera tinctoria L.
- Indigofera tsiangiana Metcalf
Ecology
[edit]Indigofera species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the turnip moth (Agrotis segetum).
Uses
[edit]Indigo dye
[edit]Several species, especially Indigofera tinctoria and Indigofera suffruticosa, are used to produce the dye indigo. Scraps of Indigo-dyed fabric likely dyed with plants from the genus Indigofera discovered at Huaca Prieta predate Egyptian indigo-dyed fabrics by more than 1,500 years.[9] Colonial planters in the Caribbean grew indigo and transplanted its cultivation when they settled in the colony of South Carolina and North Carolina where people of the Tuscarora confederacy adopted the dyeing process for head wraps and clothing. Exports of the crop did not expand until the mid-to late 18th century. When Eliza Lucas Pinckney and enslaved Africans successfully cultivated new strains near Charleston it became the second most important cash crop in the colony (after rice) before the American Revolution. It comprised more than one-third of all exports in value.
The chemical aniline, from which many important dyes are derived, was first synthesized from Indigofera suffruticosa (syn. Indigofera anil, whence the name aniline).
In Indonesia, the Sundanese use Indigofera tinctoria (known locally as tarum or nila) as dye for batik. Marco Polo was the first to report on the preparation of indigo in India. Indigo was quite often used in European easel painting[clarification needed] during the Middle Ages.[10][11]
See also
[edit]- Baptisia (false indigo)—a related genus.
- Amorpha fruticosa
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "Indigofera". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 18 October 2026.
- ↑ Gao X, Schrire BD. "Indigofera L." Flora of China. eFloras (Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA). Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- 1 2 3 Wilson, Peter G. "Genus Indigofera". Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- 1 2 3 Gao, Win-fen; Schire, Brian D. "Indigofera". Flora of China. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Indigofera". FloraSA. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Leite, Viviane G.; Marquiafável, Flávia S.; Moraes, Daniela de P.; Teixeira, Simone de P. (2009). "Fruit anatomy of Neotropical species of Indigofera (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) with functional and taxonomic implications". The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society. 136 (2): 203–211. doi:10.3159/08-RA-106.1. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Chuahan, Vibha; Panday, Arun K. (2014). "Structure and evolution of the pod in Indigofera (Fabaceae) reveals a trend towards small thin indehiscent pods". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 176 (2): 260–276. doi:10.1111/boj.12203. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "Indigofera L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ↑ Splitstoser JC, Wouters J, Claro A. (2016). "Early pre-Hispanic use of indigo blue in Peru". Science Advances. Vol. 2, no. 9. American Association for the Advancement of Science. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501623.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|article-number=ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Douma M. "Pigments through the Ages—History—Indigo". Pigments through the Ages.
- ↑ Buchanan R. (1999). A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers. Courier Corporation. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-486-40712-8. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
Further reading
[edit]- Kumar P. (2012). Indigo Plantations and Science in Colonial India. Cambridge University Press. p. 350. ISBN 978-1-107-02325-3.
External links
[edit]
- Indigofera. eFloras Lists.
- Dressler, S.; Schmidt, M. & Zizka, G. (2014). "Indigofera". African plants – a Photo Guide. Frankfurt/Main: Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg.
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