''Amorpha californica'' is a species of flowering plant in the
known by the common name California false indigo.
It is native to
California,
Arizona, and northern
Baja California, where it grows in the
California chaparral and woodlands
The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is a ...
and other
chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...
and
oak woodlands habitats. It is generally considered an
understory plant.
Description
''Amorpha californica'' is a glandular, thorn-less
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
with leaves made up of spiny, oval-shaped leaflets each tipped with a resin gland. The scattered
inflorescences are spike-like
raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
s of flowers, each flower with a single violet petal and ten protruding
stamen
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
s. The fruit is a
legume
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...
pod containing usually a single seed.
Subspecies
The standard variety is ''Amorpha californica'' var. ''californica''. ''Amorpha california'' var. ''napensis'' is a rare plant; it only grows around San Francisco and in the North Coast Ranges.
Butterflies
The
endemic California dogface butterfly larvae feed on ''Amorpha californica'', along with the
Southern dogface and the
silver-spotted skipper.
See also
*
Amorpha fruticosa
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Amorpha californica''USDA Plants Profile: ''Amorpha californica''
*
''Amorpha californica'' - U.C. Photo gallery
*
The complete chloroplast genome of the threatened Napa False Indigo Amorpha californica var. napensis Jeps. 1925 (Fabaceae) from Northern California, USA
* Wilbur, Robert L. “A REVISION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENUS AMORPHA (LEGUMINOSAE-PSORALEAE).” Rhodora, vol. 77, no. 811, 1975, pp. 337–409. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23311397. Accessed 1 Sep. 2022.
californica
Flora of California
Flora of Arizona
Flora of Baja California
Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains
Butterfly food plants
Plants described in 1838
{{Faboideae-stub