NameThatPlant.net: Baptisia lactea

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Baptisia lactea FAMILY Fabaceae Go to FSUS key

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

For an in-depth treatment, peruse A monograph of the genus Baptisia (Larisey, 1940).

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Baptisia alba var. macrophylla FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Baptisia alba var. macrophylla

SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)

Baptisia alba var. macrophylla

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)

Baptisia lactea var. lactea

INCLUDING A monograph of the genus Baptisia (Larisey, 1940)

Baptisia pendula var. macrophylla

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Baptisia leucantha

COMMON NAME:
white wild indigo

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Baptisia lactea, white wild indigo

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_bale2_001_lvd

Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_b_leucantha

May

Like B. alba & albescens, its flowering pedicels are 3-10mm long, per Weakley's Flora.

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Baptisia lactea FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Baptisia alba var. macrophylla FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Baptisia alba var. macrophylla

SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Baptisia alba var. macrophylla

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Baptisia lactea var. lactea

INCLUDING A monograph of the genus Baptisia (Larisey, 1940)
Baptisia pendula var. macrophylla

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Baptisia leucantha

3574

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: woodlands, prairies, roadsides, per Weakley's Flora

Native west of the Carolinas & Georgia

Rare

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Palmately compound: 3 leaflets
Mostly alternate

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White
Bilaterally symmetrical
4-5 toothed or lobed calyx
5-parted papilionaceous corolla
10 stamens
Superior ovary

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Legume

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!

Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p030

"Common names should be written in lower case unless part of the name is proper and then the first letter of only the proper term is capitalized. For example, sugar maple would be written with lower case letters while Japanese maple would be written with the capital J. This is the accepted method for writing common names in scientific circles and should be familiar to the student. In this text, and many others, common names are written with capital first letters. This was done to set the name off from the rest of the sentence and make it more evident to the reader. Actually in modern horticultural writings the capitalized common name predominates." — Michael Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants

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".