Indigofera suffruticosa Mill.

Perennial herbs or shrubs to 3 m tall, much branched, the branches lined and angled from the nodes when young, later more faintly lined and angled to nearly terete; whole plant strigose with pale medifixed hairs. Leaves (9-)13(-17) folio-late, the leaflets elliptic to obovate, rounded apically, mucronate, acute basally, the terminal leaflets largest, to 40 mm long, 15 mm wide, the smaller mature leaflets to 15 mm long, 5 mm wide, average leaflets ca. 30 mm long, 7 mm wide, strigose above, pubescence denser and leaflets paler beneath; petioles to 2.5 cm long, petiolules 1-2 mm long; rachis typically 6-8(-12) cm long; stipels incon-spicuous, setaceous, to 0.8 mm long; stipules inconspicuous, setaceous, 2-3 mm long. Inflorescence of dense axillary racemesw ca. 3-4 cm long, the axis somewhat longer in fruit, to 5 cm long, thus shorter than the leaves, nodes ca. 40-70 but not all with mature flowers or fruits; pedicels single, recurved, just under 1 mm long in flower, just exceeding 1 mm long in fruit; bracts setaceous, early decid-uous, to 2 mm long. Flowers rust red, to ca. 4 mm long, with the hypanthium campanulate, ca. 1.5 mm long, the cup 1 mm long, the subequal deltoid teeth ca. 0.5 mm long, strigose; petals subequal, the standard 3-4 mm long, densely hairy outside, obovate, the wings oblong, the claws to 0.8 mm long, auriculate, the keel petals fused, obovate, densely hairy outside; staminal sheath linear, ca. 2 mm long, the anthers ca. 0.5 mm long; ovary linear, the style upcurved, the stigma capitate. Fruits to 15 mm long, ca. 2.2 mm in diameter, strongly curved and resembling miniature bananas, the slender beak 1-2 mm long, not narrowed above persistent remnants of the calyx cup; seeds (3-)5-6(-7), rectangular angled, at least when dry, ca. 1.5 mm long, 1 mm wide, dull, brown, smooth.

Dry to wet fields and thickets, often in waste ground, sometimes on exposed hillsides or on sandbars, sometimes a weed in cultivated ground, most commonly at low elevations, but extending to 1,500 metres.

Indigofera suffruticosa is a native of the Americas and was one of the species originally exploited for the production of indigo dye. The epithet of the synonym, Indigofera anil, is reflected in the name of the dye aniline.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.