Baptisia nuttalliana aka Nuttall's Wild Indigo

Baptisia nuttalliana belongs to the pea family, Fabaceae. Its common name is Nuttall’s wild indigo. It is a perennial, a plant that lives for years. Both Kew and the Chicago Botanic Garden list it this way. Kew gives its native range as Oklahoma to Louisiana. It grows in a temperate climate. The RHS says it is not native to Britain or Ireland.

The Chicago Botanic Garden lists its flowers as yellow. It gives May and June as the months of bloom. These dates show the bloom season in that record. They do not promise blooms at each site then. The supplied records give no size for the full-grown plant. They state neither its height nor how wide it grows. They give no details on this species’ stems, leaves, or fruit. The RHS does describe these traits for the genus. That account covers the group, not this species alone. It does not show which traits this species has.

The Chicago Botanic Garden lists full sun and part shade. It also lists dry soil and USDA hardiness zones 6–9. These facts support a sunny site with dry soil. Some shade is also acceptable, based on this record. The records do not say just when to water. They give no soil pH or soil texture. They give no UK hardiness rating for this plant. They offer no basis to judge how fast it grows. Nor do they show how easy it is to grow.

The Chicago Botanic Garden lists visits from birds and butterflies. These visitors add wildlife interest to its yellow spring blooms. The record does not say how birds use the plant. It does not name the animals that pollinate the flowers. In other words, it does not say which visitors move pollen. The supplied sources give no pest or disease details for this species.

The sources give no evidence on parts people can eat. They also give none on uses as medicine or toxicity. These gaps do not prove that the plant is safe. The Chicago entry is an archived record. It was captured before February 2022. The RHS page marks the botanical name as unresolved.