Indigo, White Flowered (Baptisia leucantha), potted plant, organic

Family: Legume (Fabaceae) Hardy to zones 4 to 9 (Baptisia alba var. macrophylla, White Wild Indigo) Herbaceous perennial with leathery leaves and showy spikes of white flowers to 5 feet tall. Native to the prairies of the midwestern and eatern United States and Canada. Flowers give way to black seedpods, also quite decorative. An arrogant plant on the landscape. One thing I like about them is I can mow the spot where they grow a couple of times in the spring to knock back the grasses, then the white-flowered indigo comes shooting through, unphased, resplendent. The plant is heavily taprooted, with large perennial taprooots that can grow as deep as 9 feet into any soil. Nitrogen-fixing. Source of indican (blue dye). Boiling the leaves and stems with cloth whill yield a green color. Processing will yield a light blue color. You can see the indicin pooling in the stems in the photo in the gallery. I have found that in the autumn, after the leaves drop from the plant, the chlorophyll degrades, leaving a bright blue leaf. Space 2 to 3 feet apart. Potted plant, certified organically grown