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Fabaceae FAMILY

Indigofera astragalina

Indigofera astragalina

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual
Growth—

Indigofera species generally grow best in a sunny position, preferring a well-drained but moist soil[1]. Many of the species will also succeed in drier conditions and in poor soils. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria; these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby.

Propagation

Like many species within the family Fabaceae, once they have been dried for storage the seeds of this species may benefit from scarification before sowing in order to speed up and improve germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing[PFAF]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Indigofera+astragalina>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Encyclopedia of Tropical Plants - Identification and Cultivation of over 3,000 Tropical Plants — Ahmed Fayaz · Firefly Books Ltd.; New Zealand · 2011 · ISBN 978-1-55407-489 ↩︎A good photograph and terse but detailed information for over 3,000 species of tropical plants. An excellent reference.
  2. [2]African Flowering Plants Database — Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. · http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php ↩︎Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
  3. [3]Flowers of India — http://www.flowersofindia.net/ ↩︎A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars.
  4. [4]Radical Scavenging and Antioxidant Activities of Successive Solvent Extracts of Indigofera astragalina — Shiju V Mathew, Senthil Kumar R. & Manivannan R. · 2016 · http://www.ijapbr.com · ISBN 2456-0189 ↩︎
  5. [5]Phytochemical analysis and in vitro cytotoxic activity of various extracts of Indigofera astragalina — Senthilkumar Manoharan et al · 2015 · http://www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com · ISBN 0975-5071 ↩︎
  6. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎