White False Indigo - Baptisia alba

 Category: Perennial

Common Name: White False Indigo

Scientific Name: Baptisia alba

Sun Conditions:Full Sun

Soil Conditions: Dry to Medium Moist

Height Range: 3-4 ft

Width Range: 3-4 ft

Growth Habit: Upright

Growth Rate: Medium

Bloom Color: White

Bloom Time: Spring to Summer

Seed/Fruit Production: Yes

Foliage Color: Green

Hardiness Zones: 3 to 8

Evergreen: No (herbaceous; blue-gray foliage blackens in fall, black seed pods persist through winter)

Deer Resistant: Yes (deer avoid it because it is mildly poisonous)

Forage: Not a forage plant — deer and other browsers avoid it, and it can sicken livestock if eaten in quantity

Poisonous: Mild-to-moderate — "low severity" poison; it has been reported fatal to cattle and can irritate humans if ingested. Keep out of grazed pastures.

Wildlife Value Highlights: Prairie/meadow plantings, borders, rain gardens; long-lived, deep taproot (does not transplant well); dried-arrangement seed pods

Ecological/Landscape Use: Bumblebees and other native bees pollinate the pea-like flowers; nitrogen-fixing legume; black seed pods provide winter interest

Lepidoptera Supported by Family/Group: Host for Wild Indigo Duskywing, Zarucco Duskywing, Frosted Elfin, Hoary Edge, Clouded Sulphur, Persius Duskywing and Black-spotted Prominent moth (about 18 species in some regions)

Lepidoptera Supported by Species: Erynnis baptisiae, Erynnis zarucco, Callophrys irus, Achalarus lyciades, Colias philodice, Erynnis persius, Dasylophia thyatiroides

For More Info: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/baptisia-alba/