Size and method of spreading:
Typically, cream wild indigo is 1 to 2 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and spreads via seeds.
Native geographic location and habitat:
Cream wild indigo is native to the Midwestern states and centralized Southern states, along with Massachusetts and New Jersey. C Value: 10
Pollinators and wildlife:
Native to the Chicago area, cream wild indigo is attractive to butterflies and bees. Queen bumblebees are the primary pollinator for cream wild indigo. Queen and worker bumblebees’ size and strength allows them to open the closed flowers. Cream wild indigo is also visited by mason bees and digger bees. Insects that feed on cream wild indigo include moth and butterfly larvae, and larval and adult wild indigo weevils. Skippers, including the wild indigo duskywing, use cream wild indigo as a larval host. Some other insects for which cream wild indigo serves as a larval host include various grasshoppers, leaf beetles, oligophagous thrips, and broad-headed bugs.
Leaf description:
Cream wild indigo has leaves that are pointed at the tips but rounded at the bottom (oblanceolate, elliptic, or rhombic-elliptic) in shape, alternate leaves that occur in threes (trifoliate) and attach to the plants like fingers on a hand (palmately compound), with two leaflike appendages at the base of the leaves (stipules) that are large and sometimes mistaken for additional leaves, though the stipules can fall off and may be absent. If present, stipules are longer than they are wide (lanceolate) and attached directly to the stem (sessile). Leaves have veins that resemble feathers (pinnate venation) and smooth edges (entire margins). Certain varieties (var. bracteata) may have hairs that grow against the leaves (appressed), whereas other varieties (var. glabrescens) are hairless (glabrous).
Flower description:
The flower of the plant is standard and pealike with a banner, a pair of wing petals, and a pair of keel petals. Flowers occur on individual stalks along an unbranched inflorescence that bloom from the bottom to the top (racemes) and face upwards toward the source of light. Each flower is approximately 1 inch in length. The flower petals are light yellow to cream in color and hairless, though the base of the flower (calyx) is light green to light purple in color and either hairless (glabrous) or covered in appressed hairs, depending on the variety.
Fruit description:
The plant produces large, fleshy, mostly empty seed pods that contain kidney-shaped seeds. The pods have a beak at the tip, and they turn black before opening to release the seeds.
