Amorpha nana Fabaceae (legume)
Fragrant False Indigo, Dwarf Wild Indigo a-MOR-fa na-NA
- Broadleaf deciduous shrub, erect, to about 2 ft (60 cm) high; young shoots red-brown, sparsely hairy, becoming glabrous. Leaves alternate, compound (odd-pinnate) to 5-8 cm long, 25-31 leaflets, each 7-11 mm long and 2-4 mm wide, narrow to broadly oblong, tip rounded, emarginate or mucronate (sharp pointed). Flowers perfect, small, purplish, one petal, in terminal spike-like clusters (racemes), 3.5-4.5 cm long. Fruit a small reddish-brown pod, 4-5 mm long, one seed.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 3 Native range from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, south to Colorado and northern Nebraska, east to Iowa and Minnesota; found in dry prairies and rocky or sandy hillsides (Stephens, 1973).
- nana: dwarf.