South Baptisia

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Baptisia southern (lat. Baptisia australis) - the most common representative of the genus Baptisia (lat. Baptisia), belonging to the glorious legume family (lat. Fabaceae). The plant can often be found in the pastures and forests in the south and east of North America, where it is represented by herbaceous shrubs with delicate leaves and rather large racemose inflorescences formed by typical moth flowers with petals painted in various shades of purple.

The drought resistance and winter hardiness of the spectacular plant is popular with gardeners. The natives of America extracted the blue dye from the plant, and also used its healing powers.

What's in your name

The Latin name of the genus "Baptisia" comes from the ancient Greek word "bapto", which means in Russian "to plunge" or "to plunge", The specific epithet "australis" is translated from the Latin word "southern", indicating the place where the plant grows.

In America, there are other common names for this plant, such as "indigo weed", "Blue false indigo", "Blue wild indigo" and others.

The name "False Indigo Blue" is due to the fact that the leaves of the plant are used to obtain blue dye, similar to the leaves of a plant growing in Australia and called "Indigofera tinctoria" (Latin Indigofera tinctoria).

Description

The perennial guarantee of Baptisia southern is a widespread rhizome with branched and deeply penetrating roots, which help the plant to withstand periods of drought. Excavated roots show black color and woody appearance. The roots are covered with wart-like tubercles.

Numerous branching stems rise from the rhizome to the surface. For half of its life, the plant grows very actively, and then growth slows down. The surface of the stems is bare and shiny. The sap flows out of the broken stems, which, oxidizing in the air, turns dark blue. An adult plant can reach a height of one to one and a half meters with a bush width of sixty to one hundred centimeters.

Complex leaves, consisting of gray-green leaves, are arranged in the next order on the stem. Leaves appear on the stems about a month before flowering and fall off about a month after pod formation.

At the beginning of summer, flower inflorescences appear at the top of the stems, which are short vertical terminal racemes with flowers typical for plants of the legume family. The flowers are hermaphrodite, rather large, up to two and a half centimeters long. Flower petals range in color from light blue to deep purple

The fruit of Baptisia southern is a bluish-black pod with a length of two and a half to seven and a half centimeters. The oblong pods stick out funny in different directions at the top of the stem. At full maturity, the pods burst, throwing the seeds free. The pods of the plant are often attacked by parasitic weevils, which invade the inside of the pod, affecting the seeds, thereby reducing the number of viable seeds for new crops.

Usage

Southern Baptisia is a drought-resistant, relatively frost-hardy and very effective plant that is popular for decorating gardens not only in North America, but also outside this continent. The plant looks equally attractive with light green leaves, spring purple buds, or elongated unusual pods that appear in late summer.

The American Indians used Baptisia southern to make blue dye, and also used the decoction from the roots as a laxative, treated nausea, toothaches, and washed sore eyes.