English: Desert false indigo; False indigo-bush; Bastard indigobush.
Region: United States, southeastern Canada, northern Mexico; naturalized in the northeastern and northwestern America, Europe, Asia.
Content: 6'-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-12a-hydroxydalpanol, a rotenoid; amorfrutin compounds, counteracting diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.
Ecology: larval host to the clouded sulphur, gray hairstreak, hoary edge, Io moth, marine blue, silver-spotted skipper, southern dogface.
Use: ornamental.
BotanyGlandular, thornless shrub; 5 or 6 m tall; twice that in width.
Leaves: hairy, oval-shaped, spine-tipped leaflets.
Inflorescence: spike-shaped raceme of many flowers.
Flowers: single purple petal; 10 protruding stamens, yellow anthers. Fruit: legume pod, with 1 to 2 seeds.