False indigo bush
Amorpha fruticosa L.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 4.2 m
- wide
- 3.2 m
Fabaceae
Also called Desert false indigo, Bastard false indigo, Tall indigo bush
Formerly Amorpha angustifolia, Amorpha arizonica, Amorpha bushii, Amorpha caroliniana, and 28 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- ShrubKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- U.S.A. to N. MexicoKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 3.1 m to 5.3 mRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension 4–15 ft; Wikipedia 5–6 m
- Spread
- 1.8 m to 4.6 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- PurpleRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension blue, purple, yellow; Wikipedia purple
- Coldest it survives
- -34.4 °C (USDA zone 4a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- root
- AMOFRU, Ամորֆա թփային
- Portuguese
- Índigo-bastardo
- French
- faux-indigo commun, Faux-indigo du désert, Buisson à indigo
- Italian
- Amorfa fruticosa, Falso indaco, Indaco bastardo
- Japanese
- イタチハギ
- Korean
- 족제비싸리
- Czech
- netvařec křovitý
- Chinese
- 紫穗槐, 砂仁壳
- Russian
- Аморфа кустарниковая
- Arabic
- ناقصة شجيرية
- Polish
- Amorfa krzewiasta
- Estonian
- harilik kaunpõõsas, harilik amorfa
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- 3D model: Amorpha fruticosa (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.