Indigo, fera — bearing.
Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, occasionally suckering. Leaves alternate, simple, of 1-3 mostly entire and opposite leaflets or odd-pinnate; stipules present, sometimes spiny. Flowers axillary. Flowers red, pink or purple. Stamens 10, 9 fused, 1 free. Ovary with 1-many ovules. Fruit pod round to linear.
Grown for the pleasant habit and attractive flowers. The dye plant, I. tinctoria, has become naturalised in Qld and the NT.
About 700 species,mostly tropical and subtropical; about 35 species endemic to Australia.
Seed and cuttings.
Many species have medicinal uses; others provide green manure and fodder. The dye indigo is extracted from I. tinctoria and I. anil.
Leaves simple or pinnate, stipels present and persistent; stamens 9 fused, 1 free; anthers hairy with a gland at the tip.
Source: (2002). Fabaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.