White Wild Indigo

Baptisia alba commonly called white false indigo, is an upright perennial which typically grows 2-3’ tall and occurs in dry woods from Tennessee and North Carolina to Florida. It features small, white, pea-like flowers (to 1/2” long) in erect racemes (to 12”) atop dark flower stems extending well above a foliage mound of clover-like, trifoliate, bluish-green leaves (leaflets to 2” long). Blooms in spring. Flowers give way to inflated seed pods (to 1 3/4” long) which turn brown to black when ripe and have considerable ornamental interest. Stems with seed pods are valued additions to dried flower arrangements.

Genus name comes from the Greek word bapto meaning to dye.

Specific epithet means white.