| Author | Walter | |
| Distribution | Throughout the southern 60% of the Coastal Plain, north to Wake and Beaufort counties. There are scattered records for the southern tier of counties in the Piedmont, and one for the Mountains (if native there).
A southern Atlantic Coast endemic, ranging north to eastern and southern NC, and south to southern FL. It does not occur into AL.
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| Abundance | Frequent to common, at least locally, in the Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) portions of the range, north to the Sandhills and Croatan National Forest. Farther north, infrequent to fairly common, to Johnston County. Rare in the southern Piedmont, and very rare in the Mountains (accidental or gone now?). | |
| Habitat | This indigo-bush favors drier and sandier soil than do the others found in the Coastal Plain. It favors mesic pine flatwoods, but it ranges into upland pine sandhills (though not where overly sandy), and it does occur in wetter flatwoods. It can be found with both A. confusa and with A. georgiana, though the latter two favor more moist conditions. It can tolerate more fire-suppressed pine stands than can other indigo-bushes. |
| Phenology | Blooms from May to July, and fruits from July to October. | |
| Identification | This is a low-growing deciduous shrub, ranging normally just 1-2 feet tall. It has 11-37 small leaflets, each mainly just 2/3-3/4-inch long. This species is noticeably glaucous or “hoary”, and the leaflets are somewhat downy, pale, and not shiny. Also, the stem is pubescent and white to flesh-colored; A. georgiana and A. confusa can be separated by mostly smooth and brown or gray twigs, and usually darker green and shiny leaflets. When in bloom, this species has pink flowers (ranging from whitish to light purple), less deeply colored than other Amorpha species. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | A few references, such as Weakley (2018), list two varieties, but only the nominate one -- A. herbacea var. herbacea -- occurs in NC.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Dwarf Indigo-bush, Clusterspike False Indigo | |
| State Rank | S4 | |
| Global Rank | G4 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FAC link |
| USACE-emp | FAC link |
