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Fabaceae FAMILY

Indigofera spicata

Indigofera spicata

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

Reports of toxicity for this species are often confused with the closely related Indigofera hendecaphylla. It is likely that Indigofera hendecaphylla is the more toxic of the two, but this is not clear. Below are the reports on toxicity for the two species. Some strains of this species have leaves and seeds that are highly hepatotoxic[1]. The leaves of Indigofera hendecaphylla, possibly only of tetraploid forms originally from Sri Lanka, contain per 100 g dry matter 0.1 - 0.5 g indospicine (2,7-diamino-7-amino-heptanoic acid) while the seeds contain 0.1 - 2 g. Indospicine is a specific antagonist of arginine, interfering with its synthesis and incorporation into proteins and with the synthesis of DNA. Indospicine is highly toxic to chicken, rabbits, pigs, goats, sheep, cattle and horses. In small doses it causes loss of vitality and abortion in cattle and goats. Indospicine is especially dangerous to horses, which relish plants containing it and eat them preferentially[1]..

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Indigofera spicata is widespread in the tropical regions of Africa, where it tends to avoid areas of higher rainfall; it can be found at elevations up to 2,700 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 22 - 30°c, but can tolerate 13 - 36°c[2]. It is not tolerant of frost[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,500 - 2,000mm, but tolerates 500 - 4,300mm[2]. Prefers a sunny position but tolerates light shade. The plant is well adapted to a wide range of soil types - it thrives best on clay soils, but can tolerate various soil types including limestone, sandy, nutrient-poor and phosphorus-deficient, as well as moderately acidic[3]. It prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6.5, tolerating 4.5 - 7.7[2]. Indigofera spicata may potentially threaten native flora, as it will send out trailing stems reaching up to 3 metres long, producing numerous adventitious roots at the nodes and smothering other weeds[3].The plant is invasive to many parts of Asia and the Pacific, including French Polynesia (Marquesas Islands, Society Islands., Austral Islands), the Cook Islands (Mangaia), Micronesia (Pohnpei and Nauru), New Caledonia, Hawaii, Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan. Other tropical places where it is a known weed include Australia, Puerto Rico and adjacent islands, the United States (southern Florida), French West Indies (Guadeloupe), and Mexico[3]. The plant will usually maintain itself by self-sowing[3]. 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[3].

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]. Cuttings of about 20cm long are planted in situ at a spacing of 60 cm x 60 cm with 5 cuttings per hole. Plants produced from cuttings usually remain very low and cover rarely exceeds 12cm in height. A fair cover can be established in 4 - 6 months and a continuous, even cover in a year from planting[3]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Indigofera+spicata>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
  2. [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  3. [3]Invasive Species Compendium — http://www.cabi.org ↩︎An immense resource - in depth information on over 900 species of invasive plants (it also has information on animals, fungi etc).
  4. [4]The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. — Burkil. H. M. · Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. · 1985 - 2004 ↩︎Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/
  5. [5]Use and management of traditional medicinal plants by Maale and Ari ethnic communities in southern Ethiopia — Kidane B.; Andel T. van.; Maesen L.J. van der.; Asfaw Z. · 2014 · ISBN 1746-4269 ↩︎
  6. [6]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  7. [7]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
  8. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎