Amorpha nana
Common name: 
Dwarf Wild Indigo
Fragrant False Indigo
Pronunciation: 
a-MOR-fa na-NA
Family: 
Fabaceae (legume)
Genus: 
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Broadleaf deciduous shrub, erect, to about 2 ft (60 cm) high; young shoots red-brown, sparsely hairy, becoming glabrous.  Leaves alternate, compound (odd-pinnate) to 5-8 cm long, 25-31 leaflets, each 7-11 mm long and 2-4 mm wide, narrow to broadly oblong, tip rounded, emarginate or mucronate (sharp pointed).  Flowers perfect, small, purplish, one petal, in terminal spike-like clusters (racemes), 3.5-4.5 cm long.  Fruit a small reddish-brown pod, 4-5 mm long, one seed.
  • Sun
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 3         Native range from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, south to Colorado and northern Nebraska, east to Iowa and Minnesota; found in dry prairies and rocky or sandy hillsides (Stephens, 1973).
  • nana: dwarf.
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  • plant habit

    plant habit

  • leafy shoot

    leafy shoot

  • leaf

    leaf

  • fruit cluster and leaves

    fruit cluster and leaves