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California false indigo

Amorpha californica

Also called California Indigobush, False Indigo, Mock Locust

California false indigo
Photo: Anthony Valois and the National Park Service, Public domain

California false indigo is a thornless, glandular shrub in the legume family, native to chaparral and oak woodland in California, Arizona and northern Baja California. It is a tough, drought-tolerant native that needs good drainage and full to part sun.

Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water deeply but infrequently, letting the soil dry out between waterings once established.
Soil
Well-drained, sandy or gravelly soil; tolerates poor soil.
Temperature
10–35 °C; tolerates light frost and hot dry summers.
How easy
Easy
Native range
California to New Mexico and Mexico (N. Baja California)
Climate
desert or dry shrubland

About

Amorpha californica is a species of flowering plant in the legume family 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 and other chaparral and oak woodlands habitats. It is generally considered an understory plant.

Other Amorpha plants

Desert false indigo · False indigo

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Amorpha californica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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