Indigofer Australian

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

Indigofera Australian (lat. Indigofera australis) - an attractive shrub plant of the genus Indigofera (lat. Indigofera) of the legume family (lat. Fabaceae). The plant is not only decorative, but also a good honey plant. Its stems and leaves are the raw materials for the yellowish-brown dye, and the blue dye was extracted from the flowers by the aborigines of Australia. The roots of the plant, like most plants of the legume family, are healers of depleted lands, enriching the soil with nitrogen. The Australian Indians used the toxicity of the plant's roots for fishing, cutting the roots into pieces and throwing them into a body of water, after which the intoxicated fish floated to the "fishermen".

What's in your name

The Latin name of the genus "Indigofera" is based on the ability of some plant species of this genus to give people a blue-violet dye for dyeing fabrics and for painting by artists. One of these plants is Indigofera tinctoria (Latin Indigofera tinctoria).

The specific epithet "australis" is translated from the Latin by the word "south" and indicates the geographical distribution of this species, namely, to the southern continent of our planet - Australia, where Australian Indigofera grows practically everywhere.

In English literature, the plant is known under the name "Australian Indigo" ("Australian Indigo"). There are other popular names for an amazingly beautiful and useful shrub.

Description

Indigofera Australian is widespread in Australia, where it grows in a variety of natural conditions, ranging from eucalyptus forests to deserts. This is a fast-growing shrub with a short lifespan (lives no more than twenty years).

Drought resistance and unpretentiousness of the plant to the habitat is explained by a well-developed root system. Even after wildfires, Indigofera Australian restores new growth, which is born from the lateral roots of the lost plant. The rapid growth of the shrub in the shortest possible time restores the burnt thickets.

The shrub stretches to the heavens to a height of one and a half to two meters, overgrown with numerous flexible stems. The stems are covered with feathery, delicate blue-green leaves about ten centimeters long. Outwardly, the velvety surface of the leaves of a complex leaf turns out to be smooth to the touch.

From the axils of the leaves, racemose short inflorescences are born, formed by moth-type flowers typical for plants of the Legume family. The flowers are up to six millimeters wide, deep and free from each other. The color of the flower petals is unusual, starting with soft purple shades, often pinkish, and at the same time changing to other color shades. The inflorescence is very decorative and showy.

The fruit is a typical bean pod, bare and narrow, up to four and a half centimeters long, filled with seeds.

Usage

The Australian Indigo is a very attractive shrub with delicate interesting foliage and inflorescences of bright lilac moth-shaped flowers. In addition, its roots take care of improving the soil by enriching it with nitrogen.

The aborigines of Australia used the crushed roots for an original way of fishing: they threw them into the water, stunning or killing fish and eels, and the catch itself floated up, all that was left was to collect the prey in a basket.

From the flowers of the plant, the Australian Indians made a blue dye, and from the stems and leaves they get a yellowish-brown dye for fabrics and artistic paintings.

Pollen and nectar are the food of many local insects, including bees, which process nectar into honey.