Blue false indigo

Baptisia australis has an interesting story behind its Botanical (Baptisia australis) and common name (Blue false Indigo). The sap from this plant has long been sought after to create a blue dye. Native Americans and early settlers both used it for this purpose. However, the settlers had previous experience with a different plant (Indigofera tinctoria- native to Asia) that was more effective for dyeing clothes. Since this was considered the "true" Indigo, Baptisia australis became known as False indigo or Blue false indigo.

The name 'Baptisia' comes from the Greek 'bapto', which means "to dip" or "immerse" and is, of course, related to dipping materials in the dye. The name 'australis' means southern, but that is a misnomer since Baptisia Australis is not limited to southern regions.

Blue false indigo flowers come in multiple shades of blue and lavender. Some are a solid deep sapphire blue and may show a touch of white. Others are pale, icy blue and varying shades of lavender. Each one is beautiful in its own way.

In early spring, the plump stems of Baptisia australis wake up and push their way through the rocky soil. The fat stems remind me of asparagus. Mature plants usually have multiple stems with trifoliate leaves along their length. The leaves and stem are smooth, glossy and have a whitish or frosty appearance (glaucous). Each leaflet of the trifoliate leaf has a prominent central vein.

The flowers arise from short stalks with a chalky green calyx .

Each stem has a variable number of pea-like flowers. The flowers open in order from the base to the top. Each flower is composed of 5 petals with the uppermost petal turned upward. This petal is known as a banner and has a central notch. The two side petals cover each side of the flower. They are called the wings. The two central petals (the keel) are fused together, basically 'protecting' the reproductive parts of the flower (10 stamens with yellow anthers and one style).

Collecting seeds of Blue false indigo is a pleasurable experience. Its important to wait for the seeds to ripen before harvesting as immature seeds won't germinate. Immature seed pods are green, turning black when ripe.

The seeds in the photo above are nice and healthy, but sometimes you'll notice a seed pod that has a hole bored in it. This will be from a female Baptisia Seed Pod Weevil (Trichapion Rostrum) who has created the hole with her snout. Once she has a nice hole, she pushes her eggs inside the pod. The developing seeds are devoured by her larvae, leaving nothing but their waste inside. Like most things in nature, the number of weevils varies year to year. Some years I find very few pods with viable seeds, but other years the seeds are plentiful. It's just natures way.

Baptisa australis can be reliably started from seed, but the seed must be scarified. The method we've found most successful is to boil a pot of water, remove it from the stove, adding the ripe seed. Soak the seed for an hour or more. They are then ready to sow either by broadcasting or in a nursery bed. Following this method, you'll have single stemmed plants the following spring. You can carefully dig these to transplant. Raising Baptisia from seed takes patience as they rarely flower before the 3rd year. But- its such a pleasure to collect seeds and start your own plants from local genotype.

In winter, the vegetative part of the plant breaks away, but underneath the glade soil, the roots are strong and deep. They will send up new shoots in spring.

Blue wild indigo are very long-lived plants, surviving for many decades. Plant them where you want them. Due to their deep tap roots, they won't transplant well beyond their first season.

The main pollinators of Baptisia australis are Bumble bees. Bumble bees are strong enough to separate the keel to reach the nectar. The video below shows a Brown-belted Bumble Bee (Bombus griseocollis) nectaring on the flowers of Blue false Indigo.

Baptisia flowers open first at the bottom of the stem and proceed toward the top. The bees tend to begin nectaring with the bottom flowers, gradually moving up the stem. With each flower they access nectar and in so doing, their abdomen is exposed to the orange pollen on the anthers. Moving up the stem, they brush pollen from the lower flowers onto the upper flowers, pollinating as they go. Female Bumble bees store some of the orange pollen in their pollen baskets. When her baskets are full enough, she'll take the pollen to her nest, evenutally laying eggs in the pollen balls.

If you would like to learn more about the interconnected relationship between Baptisia and their Bumble bee pollinators, I recommend reading this blog from the Xerces society.

https://www.xerces.org/blog/bumble-bees-and-baptisia-pollination-story.

Baptisia australis is native to most states in the eastern half of the United States, but is considered rare in many of them.

Natureserve lists Baptisia australis as Critically Imperiled in 3 states (Georgia, Ohio and Indiana). It has Imperiled status in Kentucky, Texas and Pennsylvania and is considered Vulnerable in Virginia and West Virginia. Other states within its known range show no status.

Baptisia australis is a host plant for multiple butterflies including Orange sulphur, Clouded sulfur, Frosted elfin, Eastern tailed-blue, Hoary edge and Wild Indigo Duskywing.