Shrubs, shrublets, perennial herbs, or rarely annual herbs or small trees; trichomes typically medifixed (T-shaped), equally to very unequally 2-branched and sometimes crisped, or rarely simple multicellular hairs present with glandular tips. Stipules persistent or caducous. Leaves usually imparipinnate but for some species simple or reduced to 1 leaflet; stipels present or absent; leaflet blades usually opposite but sometimes subopposite or alternate, rarely with glands, margin entire. Racemes axillary; bracts usually caducous. Calyx campanulate or cup-shaped; teeth 5, subequal or abaxial one longer. Corolla usually reddish, sometimes white or yellow; standard usually covered outside with appressed trichomes but occasionally glabrous, base shortly clawed, apex usually obtuse to emarginate and mucronate; wings narrow, base auricled; keel falcate or spatulate, with spur adnate to wings. Stamens 10, diadelphous, only vexillary one free; anthers uniform, basifixed or subbasifixed, sometimes both ends hairy, apex apiculate; pollen 3-colporate. Ovary sessile, with 1 to many ovules; style linear, usually glabrous; stigma capitate. Legume linear, oblong, or ovoid, cylindric or 4-sided in cross section, 2-valved, septate, dehiscent; endocarp often spotted with tannin deposits. Seeds globose to rectangular; hilum small; cotyledons unequal; radicle oblique.
INDIGOFERA L.
Por Richard H. Maxwell
Hierbas o arbustos, con tricomas mediifijos. Hojas imparipinnadas o 3-folioladas; folíolos opuestos o alternos, (1) 3–23, estipelas presentes; estípulas presentes. Inflorescencias racemosas, axilares, bracteadas, flores frecuentemente densas, diminutas, rojizas, color salmón, anaranjadas o blanquecinas, ebracteoladas; cáliz 5-lobado; estandarte pubescente, alas algo adheridas a las quillas, quillas fusionadas, mayormente con una bolsa proyectada hacia atrás; estambres 10, diadelfos, el vexilar libre, anteras con una proyección apical; ovario estrigoso, con pocos a numerosos óvulos, estilo ascendente, estigma capitado. Legumbres oblongas o lineares, teretes o 4-anguladas, rostradas, septadas; semillas cilíndricas con extremos truncados o algo cuadradas.
Género pantropical con ca 700 especies, con un centro de diversidad en Africa; 7 especies en Nicaragua. Las especies de Indigofera se han cultivado como fuente de añil. Se dice que las raíces y semillas de algunas especies son venenosas.
A.W. Lievens. Taxonomic Treatment of Indigofera L. (Fabacaeae: Faboideae) in the New World. Ph.D. Thesis, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Baton Rouge. 1992.
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.
Hierbas o arbustos, las ramitas glabras o glabradas a estrigosas, seríceas o pilosas (usualmente con tricomas medifijos o en forma de “T”), sin espinas; estípulas setáceas. Hojas unifolioladas o (mucho más frecuente) imparipinnadamente compuestas; pecíolo sin nectarios glandulares; raquis (rara vez nulo) levemente canaliculado, sin nectarios glandulares; folíolos (1–)3–25 (en CR), alternos o (más frecuente) opuestos, mucronatos en el ápice. Infls. axilares, racemosas o espigadas, con brácteas deciduas, sin bractéolas. Fls. rosadas o anaranjadas a rojas, zigomorfas, subsésiles o cortamente pediceladas; sépalos connatos en un cáliz campanulado, a menudo marcadamente oblicuo, 5-lobulado (a veces muy profundamente) o dentado; pétalos 5, separados, el estandarte orbicular u obovado, estrigoso externamente; estambres 10, los filamentos connatos (excepto con 1 separado); anteras sin glándulas. Frs. péndulos o subpéndulos a horizontales (por torsión del pedicelo), pardo grisáceo, oblongos a lineares, cilíndricos o angulados, coriáceos, dehiscentes; semillas 1–varias, pardo rojizo a pardo oscuro o casi negras, globosas o reniformes a cuadrangulares u oblongas a cilíndricas, sin arilo.
Herbs or shrubs. Leaves imparipinnate; leaflets 3 to several, opposite or alternate; stipules minute, persistent; stipels minute. Flowers small, in axillary racemes or spikes, not clustered, the bracts minute; calyx cup-shaped with 5 minute, subequal teeth at apex; corolla pink or red, the standard rounded or obovate, narrowed at base, the wings as long as the keel, adherent to the keel petal; stamens 10, diadelphous, the anthers glandular at apex; ovary sessile, with 1 to many ovules, the style inflexed, the stigma capitate. Legume cylindrical, flattened, or 4-angular, linear, often curved, with septa between seeds, dehiscent; seeds rounded, ellipsoid, or angular.
Upper (vexillary) filament free, the others united, persistent; anthers ± uniform, dorsifixed, almost always apiculate, with or, more usually, without basal scales
Corolla usually red or pink, caducous or rarely the standard persistent, at the most (in Flora area) ± 18 mm. long, usually much less; standard longer than wide, narrowed gradually to the base; claw of wing, if distinct from blade, less than one-eighth as long as blade; keel with a ± gently curved lower margin, rather gibbous or, more usually, spurred at each side; claw of keel short, widening gradually, often hardly distinct from blade
Pod usually dehiscent, 1-seeded by abortion, or, more often, 2–many-seeded, cylindrical, tetragonal or flattened, never inflated, rarely as much as 3 mm. across; endocarp often spotted, forming septa between the seeds.
Hairs typically biramous, sometimes subsimple or simple through the suppression of one arm; stiff erect multicellular, often gland-tipped, hairs sometimes also occur
Annual or perennial herbs or small shrubs
Flowers usually in axillary racemes, less often in open or subcapitate panicles, single in the leaf-axils or in dense axillary clusters
Leaves pulvinate, usually imparipinnate, sometimes 3-foliolate, conjugate, 1-foliolate or simple, very rarely paripinnate with the rhachis ending in a point; stipules not adnate to petiole nor encircling the stem; stipellae present or absent; leaflets entire, their lateral nerves obscure
Herbes'ou arbustes à poils médifixes 1 et ± apprimés, parfois aussi à poils dressés basifixes.'Feuilles'alternes, pennées, parfois 1-foliolées ou subdigitées-3-foliolées; stipules généralement grèles; stipelles petites ou absentes.'Inflorescences'généralement en racèmes axillaires, parfois capituliformes ou réduites à des fleurs solitaires ou semblant former des panicules par réduction des feuilles sous-tendantes.'Fleurs'à calice petit, un peu oblique; dent inférieure souvent plus grande que les 4 autres; corolle généralement petite; étendard sessile ou substipité; carène obtuse, parfois rostrée, généralement munie, de chaque côté au-dessous du milieu, d'un appendice sacciforme ± développé ou d'une gibbosité; étamines diadelphes, la vexillaire libre; connectif prolongé en petit appendice; ovaire sessile, rarement stipité; stigmate capité; ovules généralement nombreux, rarement solitaires.'Gousses'déhiscentes, linéaires et turgides, parfois fortement aplaties ou petites et subglobulaires.'Graines séparées par des cloisons transversales spongieuses.\n\t\t\t\tGenre groupant plusieurs centaines d'espèces dans les régions tropicales et tempérées chaudes, vraisemblablement le mieux représenté en Afrique tropicale et australe; au Congo belge, 68 espèces.
in the warmer to tropical regions of both the New and Old Worlds and is particularly diverse in Africa.
A genus of 700 species, of warm temperate zones.
