Indigofera oxycarpa
J. Bot. Agric. 3: 79. 1814.
Shrubs, pubescent, hairs appressed, silvery gray. Stems usually procumbent, sometimes scrambling, branched, younger ones with faint zigzag pattern, from main stem at angle (30–90°), those arising from main axis usually short and stubby, 3–20 dm. Leaves 2–10 cm; stipules narrowly long-triangular, attenuate, 1–1.3 mm; petiole 1–2 cm; stipels absent; petiolules 0.5 mm; leaflets 3–7, opposite, blades ovate or elliptic, 4.5–19 × 2.5–16 mm, base cuneate, apex acute or broadly rounded, sometimes emarginate, mucronate, surfaces glabrate to appressed-pubescent adaxially, less so abaxially. Peduncles 2–6 cm. Racemes 20–40+-flowered, lax, 8–20 cm. Pedicels 1–2 mm. Flowers 5–6 mm; calyx 1.5–3.1 mm, lobes narrowly triangular; corolla pink. Legumes brown, strongly reflexed or spreading, cylindric, straight to slightly curved, 24–40 mm, papery, sparsely strigose. Seeds 9 or 10, yellowish brown, cuboid. 2n = 16.
Phenology: Flowering Oct–Mar.
Habitat: Rocky coasts.
Elevation: 0–10 m.
Distribution
Fla., West Indies (Cuba, Jamaica), Central America, South America (Brazil).
Discussion
Indigofera oxycarpa is endangered in Florida, known only from Collier, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties.
The nomenclature of Indigofera oxycarpa has a confusing history (A. W. Lievens 1992). The earliest name for the species, as treated here, is Galega frutescens Miller [Tephrosia frutescens (Miller) de Candolle]. Since the name I. frutescens is preoccupied, the name I. oxycarpa is the oldest available name for the species, if it is recognized as separate from Old World taxa. Indigofera mucronata Sprengel ex de Candolle is an illegitimate name sometimes used for this taxon. Sprengel published I. jamaicensis in 1826; P. S. White (1980) adopted this name in his treatment of the genus for the Flora of Panama. Lievens provided a complete synonymy.
R. D. Meikle (1950) discussed the similarities of these New World plants with Indigofera subulata Vahl ex Poiret, an African species, and I. scabra Roth, an Indian species, creating I. subulata var. scabra (Roth) Meikle, and placing the New World names I. mucronata and I. jamaicensis under it as synonyms. Subsequently, S. I. Ali (1958) placed I. subulata and all its varieties in synonymy under I. trita Linnaeus f., creating a new combination, I. trita var. scabra (Roth) Ali for the New World taxon, later placed as I. trita subsp. scabra (Roth) de Kort & G. Thijsse.
Selected References
None.