False Indigo Bush

Description

Botanical Name:  Amorpha fruticosa

Common Name:  Indigo Bush, False Indigo Bush, False Indigo, Desert False Indigo

Description:  This is a really pretty, Florida native, deciduous shrub. It has lacy, dark-green leaves, and showy spikes of 3-6″ long purple flowers bloom in the spring. When in bloom, the combination of purple, orange and green gives false indigo a stunning and unusual appearance. It can grow to 10-12′ tall x 5′ wide. Although it is naturally a dense and many-branched shrub, it can be pruned into a tree form. It grows naturally on moist soils of streambanks and waterways. Is drought tolerant as well as tolerates poor drainage, but needs occasional deep irrigation in dry months. Sun, part sun, or part shade. Host plant to California and southern dogfaces, Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus), Gray hairstreak, Hoary edge skipper, and is of special value to native bees. High deer resistance. It is extremely adaptable and does well in most landscapes. As it can get rather tall comparatively, it is best planted in the back of a mixed planting or as a screen or hedge.

Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water. Some tolerance to salty wind but not direct salt spray.

This plant in 1-gallon containers is 1-2′ tall.

This plant in 3-gallon containers is 2-4′ tall.

Plant Lore:  The genus name, from the Greek amorphos (formless or deformed), alludes to the fact that the flower, with only a single petal (the banner or standard), is unlike the typical pea flowers of the family.

Florida Hardiness Zones 8a – 10a