Indigo - plant profile

Names

Indigo (English)
Nila, nili, nilika, rangapatri (Sanskrit)
Gali, gari, nil (Gujarat)
Nil (Hindi and Bengal)

The word nila denotes dark blue colour and is applied to animals, plants and minerals according to their colour. Sanskrit authors speak of nila flies, birds, stones and flowers.

Botanical name: Indigofera tinctoria
Family: Fabaceae, the pea and bean family, also known as the Leguminosae.

Three other species are grown on a smaller scale: Indigo arrecta, Bengal indigo, Indigo suffruticosa, West Indian indigo, Vilaiti nil (Hindi), Shimaiyaviri (Tamil), Indigo articulata (the least important).

The plant

A living indigo plant in flower, growing in Kew Gardens.
Image: Indigo plant in bloom, growing in Kew Gardens.
Indigo plants grow as shrubs or herbs to between 1 and 3 m tall with spreading branches.

Leaves - slightly hairy, separated into leaflets often opposite each other. It is the leaves that yield the blue dye, indigo. The plants are also grown as a cover for crops and as a fertiliser. The leaves of some species are fed to livestock.

Flowers - in little clusters, with pea-like flowers.


Fruits - a pea-like pod. Indigofera is very large genus of about 700 species, distributed in topical and sub-tropical regions. Several species yield a blue dye.






More images of Indigo