Yellow Wild Indigo
Baptisia sphaerocarpa
A clean, shrub-like prairie legume with blue-green foliage and upright spikes of bright yellow pea flowers in late spring, followed by rounded black pods that rattle when dry. It is the yellow parent behind most of the Decadence and Prairieblues hybrid baptisias. Deep-rooted and extremely long-lived, but slow to establish and resentful of transplanting.
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 2–3 ft
- Spacing
- 2–3 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- dry, moist
- Soil pH
- neutral
- Bloom
- April, May, June
- Bloom colors
- yellow
- Wildlife value
- butterflies
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~15 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- rain garden
- Native states
- AR, LA, MO, MS, OK, TX
Related native plants
More Baptisia species
- White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba)
- Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis)
- Cream Wild Indigo (Baptisia bracteata)
- Yellow Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria)
- Gopherweed (Baptisia lanceolata)