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Indigofera pendula Franch.

Modern name

Indigofera pendula Franch.

A deciduous shrub of spreading habit, ultimately 8 to 10 ft high; young shoots furnished with pale hairs flattened to the bark. Leaves pinnate, 8 to 10 in. long. Leaflets nineteen to twenty-seven to each leaf, oblong to oval, rounded at the apex, where is a short prolongation of the midrib, rounded or tapered at the base, 34 to 114 in. long, about 12 in. wide, soon glabrous above, furnished beneath with appressed pale hairs. Racemes quite pendulous and very slender, the largest 112 ft long, produced during August and September from the leaf-axils of the current year’s shoots. Flowers of nearly the common broom shape, very numerous, opening successively from the base onwards, each 13 to 12 in. long; petals rosy purple, downy outside; calyx downy, with awl-shaped lobes; flower-stalk very short. Pods 2 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 8745.

Native of Yunnan, China; discovered by Delavay in 1887; introduced by Forrest in 1914. This species is remarkable for the great length and slenderness of its racemes which develop successively along the shoots. At Kew, hard frosts kill it back to the ground, but it springs up again, and as the flowers come on the leafy shoots of the year its blossom is not lost thereby.


Genus

Indigofera

Other species in the genus