Longbract wild indigo

Baptisia bracteata, the longbract wild indigo or cream wild indigo, is a perennial herbaceous legume native to the central and eastern United States, particularly tallgrass prairie and open woodland habitats. Mature plants form bushy, hemispheric mounds 30 to 60 cm tall with stout, branching stems arising from a deep taproot. The trifoliate leaves are subtended by conspicuous leaf-like stipules and bracts (hence the epithet bracteata), with obovate to oblanceolate leaflets covered in soft hairs. Pea-like creamy white to pale yellow flowers are borne in dense, drooping or horizontally arching racemes that emerge low among the foliage in spring; each flower is about 2 cm long. Fruits are inflated, leathery pods that turn black at maturity and rattle when dry. After frost, the entire above-ground plant blackens and often breaks free to tumble as a wind-dispersed unit.