Fabaceae
True indigo
Indigofera tinctoria
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Genus
- Indigofera
Pet and kid safety: not checked yet. Check pet-safe plants
Is yours looking unwell? Scan your plant — free
Common names
By language (50)
- Arabic
- نيلة زرقاء, انديقون, حب العجب, حنامجون, خطر, سدوس, طين أخضر, ليلج
- arz
- نيله زرقاء
- Asturian
- Índigu
- azb
- ایندیقو آغاجی
- Azerbaijani
- Boyaq indiqoferası
- ban
- Taum
- Bangla
- নীল
- Basque
- Anil
- Burmese
- တော်မဲရိုင်း
- Catalan
- Anyil, Anyil autèntic
- Chinese
- 木蓝, 木藍, 南板蓝叶, 南板蓝根, 大靛根, 小青, 槐蓝, 蓝靛
- Czech
- Indigovník pravý
- English
- True indigo, Indigo plant
- Estonian
- Värvi-indigopõõsas
- Finnish
- Väri-indigo
- French
- Indigotier, Indigo des Indes, Indigo des teinturiers, Indirubine
- Galician
- Anil, Índigo
- German
- Indigopflanze, Beroai, Henna schwarz
- Haitian Creole
- Digo
- Hebrew
- ניל הצבעים
- Hindi
- नील
- hsb
- Indigo, Barbownik, Indich
- Hungarian
- Indigó
- Indonesian
- Tarum
- Japanese
- タイワンコマツナギ, インディゴフェラ・ティンクトリア, 台湾駒繋
- Javanese
- Tarum
- Kazakh
- Индиго
- Korean
- 인디고페라 틴토리아
- Latin
- Indigo tinctoria
- Lithuanian
- Dažinė indigažolė
- mad
- Tarom
- Malay
- Pokok Tarum
- Malayalam
- നീലയമരി
- Occitan
- Indigòt
- Persian
- درخت نیل
- Polish
- Indygowiec barwierski, Indygowiec farbiarski
- Romanian
- Planta de indigo
- Russian
- Индигофера красильная, Индиго
- sat
- ᱤᱱᱰᱤᱜᱳ
- shn
- ၶၢမ်းထိူၼ်ႇ, တူၼ်ႈႁူၼ်း
- Sinhala
- නිල් අවරිය
- Slovak
- Indigovník farbiarsky
- Spanish
- Anil, Añil
- Sundanese
- Tarum
- Swedish
- Indigo
- Tamil
- அவுரி, நீலம், நீலி, இண்டிகோபெரா டிங்டோரியா
- tcy
- ನೀಲಿತಪ್ಪು
- Thai
- คราม
- Turkish
- İndigo ağacı
- Vietnamese
- Chàm quả cong
Synonyms
- Anil tinctoria (L.) Kuntze
- Anil tinctoria var. normalis Kuntze
- Anila tinctoria (L.) Kuntze
- Indigofera tinctoria subsp. tinctoria
Flowers
- In flower
- July to August, October to April (from 35 flowering iNaturalist observations worldwide)
Characteristics
- Growth habit
- Subshrub
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- In the US and Canada
- Lower 48 states: introduced, Navassa Island: introduced, Puerto Rico: introduced, U.S. Virgin Islands: introduced
Photos
FlowerPhoto: ritirene, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
FlowerPhoto: Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0, from iNaturalist 
FlowerPhoto: i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
FlowerPhoto: James K. Douch, CC BY-SA 4.0, from iNaturalist 
Photo: Kurt Stüber [1], CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
Photo: Daderot, CC0, from Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Ben Machado, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
Photo: Pancrat, CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Pancrat, CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Shedron Mukhumo, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
Photo: Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons
More in Indigofera
- Indigofera suffruticosaFabaceae
- Himalayan indigoIndigofera heteranthaFabaceae
- Australian indigoIndigofera australisFabaceae
- Chinese indigoIndigofera decoraFabaceae
- Roughhairy indigoIndigofera hirsutaFabaceae
- Indigofera tsiangianaFabaceae
- Indigofera amblyanthaFabaceae
- Natal indigoIndigofera arrectaFabaceae
- KhedaishIndigofera articulataFabaceae
- Large-leaved indigoIndigofera astragalinaFabaceae
- Indigofera linifoliaFabaceae
- Indigofera marmorataFabaceae
Sources: classification, synonyms from World Flora Online Plant List (2026-06, CC0 1.0); common names, popularity from Wikidata (2026-10-26, CC0 1.0); common names, US characteristics from USDA PLANTS Database (2025-05-29, CC0 1.0). About our plant data.