Indigofera trita trita

Habit: Herb

Erect, woody herbs or shrubs, 30-200 cm high; branches erect to horizontal, pinkish to light green, coarsely strigose. Leaves pinnately trifoliate; very rarely 5, opposite, 1-4 x 0.5-02.5 cm, elliptic sometimes obovate, obtuse to cuneate or rounded at base, obtuse to rounded or sometimes emarginated and mucronate at apex, adpressed pubescent on both surfaces, sometimes glabrous above especially when the leaflets are small; rachis 5-12 mm long, petioles 1-2.5 cm long, canaliculate above; stipules 1-2 x 0.3-0.5 mm, narrowly triangular, hairy outside. Racemes 1.5-4.5 mm long, sessile, axillary; rachis striate, adpressed strigose, 15-30-flowered. Flowers pink to brick red, 4-5 mm long; bracts 1-1.5 mm long, narrowly triangular, caduceus; pedicels up to 1.2 mm long. Calyx adpressed white pubescent, cup 0.5-1 mm long, teeth 1-1.5 x 0.5 mm, narrowly triangular. Standard petals 3.5-4.5 x 3-4 mm, orbicular, sometimes broadly obovate, rounded and mucronate at apex, adpressed strigose on the back; wing petals 3-4 x 1 mm, glabrous, ciliate along margins; keel petals 3-4x1-1.5 mm, adpressed strigose outside towards the tip, ciliate along margins, lateral spur ca 0.6 mm long. Staminal sheath 3-4 mm long; anthers ca 0.5 mm long. Ovary ca 3 mm long, linear, glabrous, up to 10-ovuled; style 1-1.5 mm long, glabrous. Pods 15-30 x 1.5-2.5 mm, deflexed to spreading, straight, subtetragonous sharply beaked, strigose, ash-grey to pinkish; seeds 6-10, ca 2 x 1.5 mm, subtetragonous, yellow, dark-brown, smooth.

Maharashtra: Kolhapur, Pune, Thane Karnataka: Belgaum, Chikmagalur, Hassan, N. Kanara Kerala: Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram Tamil Nadu: All districts