Amorpha canescens Pursh
Leadplant, Downy indigo bush, Prairie shoestring, Buffalo bellows, downy false indigo, leadplant, leadplant amorpha
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Amorpha canescens, known as leadplant, downy indigo bush, prairie shoestring, or buffalo bellows, is a small, perennial semi-shrub in the pea family (Fabaceae), native to North America. It has very small purple flowers with yellow stamens which are grouped in racemes. Depending on location, the flowers bloom from late June through mid-September. The compound leaves of this plant appear leaden due to their dense hairiness. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Amorpha canescens”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Amorpha
Amorpha is a genus of plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. All the species are native to North America, from southern Canada, most of the United States (US), and northern Mexico. They are commonly known as false indigo. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Amorpha”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Amorpha brachycarpa E.J.Palmer; Amorpha canescens f. canescens; Amorpha canescens f. glabrata (A.Gray) Fassett; Amorpha canescens f. glabrescens Zabel; Amorpha canescens var. glabrata A.Gray and 3 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (598 mm of 850 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 17.7 °C against a yearly mean of 9.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 850 mm a year, wettest June at 117 mm, driest January at 24 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
850 mm a year at the habitat, 598 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 117 mm, driest January at 24 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 564 mm to 1094 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 41 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor -22.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -22.3 °C, the absolute minimum -38.6 °C, about 182 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -9.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells -14.2 °C to -3.4 °C), warmest day 28.1 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -22.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | -1 / -5–6 | 1 / -2–9 | 8 / 5–15 | 15 / 13–20 | 21 / 19–25 | 26 / 24–29 | 28 / 27–32 | 27 / 26–32 | 23 / 21–27 | 16 / 14–21 | 8 / 4–13 | 1 / -3–7 |
| Night °C | -10 / -14–-3 | -8 / -12–-1 | -3 / -5–3 | 4 / 1–9 | 10 / 8–14 | 16 / 14–19 | 19 / 17–22 | 18 / 16–21 | 13 / 11–17 | 7 / 4–11 | -0 / -3–5 | -7 / -11–-2 |
| Rain mm | 24 / 13–53 | 27 / 15–55 | 50 / 31–79 | 84 / 53–105 | 101 / 78–139 | 117 / 92–142 | 104 / 76–119 | 103 / 67–120 | 89 / 51–107 | 68 / 44–93 | 51 / 21–87 | 32 / 16–65 |
| DLI | 13 / 12–17 | 19 / 18–22 | 26 / 25–29 | 33 / 32–36 | 37 / 37–39 | 41 / 40–43 | 41 / 40–44 | 36 / 34–40 | 28 / 26–32 | 20 / 18–23 | 13 / 11–17 | 11 / 9–14 |
| RH % | 62 / 57–66 | 60 / 56–64 | 57 / 55–60 | 55 / 53–56 | 55 / 54–58 | 57 / 56–58 | 57 / 54–59 | 58 / 54–60 | 57 / 54–58 | 57 / 54–58 | 59 / 56–61 | 62 / 57–66 |
Each figure is the median across the 1120 grid cells holding the 1635 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 908:1508 (44.575, -104.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -38.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -22.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1120 distinct grid cells holding the 1635 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 908:1508 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.50_-104.375, lapse-corrected +60 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1420 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Chet Burrier, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6); (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Amorpha canescens, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Verbena stricta hoary verbena
Solidago rigida Rigid Goldenrod
Dalea purpurea purple prairie clover
Agastache scrophulariifolia figwort giant-hyssop
Liatris aspera button blazing star
Heliopsis helianthoides Rough OxeyeOther Amorpha 1 in the reference
History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 57 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








