General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Shrub
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences: Wet Mesic
Mesic
Dry Mesic
Dry
Soil pH Preferences: Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Slightly alkaline (7.4 – 7.8)
Moderately alkaline (7.9 – 8.4)
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 9b
Plant Height: 6 - 12 feet
Plant Spread: 4 - 6 feet
Leaves: Deciduous
Fruit: Edible to birds
Other: Small, curved green pod @ 1/4 inch long turning brown with age and containing one small seed.
Flowers: Showy
Fragrant
Flower Color: Purple
Other: 3 to 8 inch long spike with clusters of many small flowers of deep purple with bright yellow anthers. Flowers have a single petal wrapped to form a tube.
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Spring
Summer
Underground structures: Taproot
Uses: Windbreak or Hedge
Erosion control
Edible Parts: Fruit
Dynamic Accumulator: Nitrogen fixer
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Birds
Butterflies
Resistances: Humidity tolerant
Drought tolerant
Propagation: Seeds: Provide light
Sow in situ
Propagation: Other methods: Cuttings: Tip
Stolons and runners
Pollinators: Bees
Miscellaneous: Tolerates poor soil
Monoecious

Image
Common names
  • False Indigo
  • Indigo Bush
  • Desert Indigo
  • Leadplant
  • River Locust
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Amorpha fruticosa
  • Synonym: Amorpha croceolanata

Photo Gallery
Location: J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area, Jefferson County, Texas
Date: May 2, 2014
Location: stamford ct
Date: may

Date: 2022-08-22

Date: 2023-06-01

Date: 2015-06-07
Location: J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area, Jefferson County, Texas
Date: May 2, 2014

Credit: Dalgial
Location: Missouri zone 6a
Date: 2022-05-22
Location: Missouri zone 6a
Date: 2022-05-22
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2016-07-18
stems inside shrub
Location: J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area, Jefferson County, Texas
Date: May 2, 2014
Close-up
Location: Missouri zone 6a
Date: 2021-08-08
Location: Lutz, FL
Date: 2014-04-16
Location: Hokkaido, Japan
Date: 1998
Indigo Bush (Amorpha fruticosa)
Location: Illinois, US
Date: 2020-06-08
Location: My yard in Arlington, Texas.
Date: Summer 2010
I love these blooms.
Location: Hokkaido, Japan
Date: 1998
Indigo Bush (Amorpha fruticosa)
Location: Fenmore Woods near Wayne, PA
Date: 2017-06-18
spent flower spikes and foliage
Location: Illinois, US
Date: 2020-06-08
Location: J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area, Jefferson County, Texas
Date: May 2, 2014
Location: Jenkins Arboretum in Berwyn, Pennsylvania
Date: 2018-05-27
flower spikes and foliage
Location: Jenkins Arboretum in Berwyn, Pennsylvania
Date: 2018-05-27
flower spikes with foliage

Credit: Dalgial
Location: North of Atlanta, GA
Date: 18 Sept 2011
leaves & bark
Location: Lutz, FL
Date: 2015-04-10
Blooms emerge very quickly after the first leaves sprout.
Location: My front yard N. Watauga TX
Date: 2012-04-04
Amorpha fruticosa  Larval host for Dogface Sulphur, and Silver Sp
Location: Fenmore Woods near Wayne, PA
Date: 2017-06-18
full-grown shrub in summer
Location: Lutz, FL
Date: 2016-04-06
Location: IL
Date: 2015-05-15
Location: Lutz, FL
Date: 2016-04-03
Location: Lutz, FL
Date: 2015-03-25
Always one of the last plants to leaf out, even in Florida!
Location: My front yard N. Watauga TX
Date: 2012-04-04
Blooms of A fruticosa
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2016-07-18
shrub in summer
Location: Fenmore Woods near Wayne, PA
Date: 2016-07-18
legume fruits
Comments:
  • Posted by fiwit (My little patch of paradise - Zone 7b) on Sep 16, 2011 5:38 AM concerning plant:
    good native alternative to buddleia (butterfly bush)
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Dec 30, 2017 8:28 PM concerning plant:
    I see this Indigobush once-in-awhile in swampy areas or near a pond in the wild in southeast PA and northern IL. Its native range is from southern New England & New York down into central Florida to east Texas up to southern Manitoba, and there are some spots in the southern Rocky Mountains, some spots in Arizona, and in southwest California, growing in bogs, swamps, bottomlands, and along watercourses or ponds and lakes. Some native plant nurseries sell some for naturalistic landscapes, but I've never seen it sold at conventional nurseries or seen it planted in yards.
  • Posted by plantladylin (Sebastian, Florida - Zone 10a) on Feb 17, 2013 8:02 PM concerning plant:
    Amorpha fruticosa is a native perennial here in Florida. Desert False Indigo can attain heights to 12 feet; a broad, densely branched, spreading shrub with large, showy flower spikes of many small deep purple blooms with bright yellow anthers. Amorpha in Greek means "deformed" referring to the single flower petal which deviates from the typical blooms of the Pea and Bean family. In appearance the blooms seem to be a tube shape but are actually a single petal, wrapped to form a tube. "False" is because of the poor quality of indigo dye obtained from this plant.

    Desert False Indigo has large showy flowers that attract many pollinators and the foliage acts as a host plant for the caterpillars of the Silver Spotted Skipper and the Southern Dogface Butterfly.
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