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Indigofera decora; photograph KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAKENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Indigofera decora Lindl.

Fabaceae · China South-Central, China Southeast +1

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Indigofera decora, photograph KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsIndigofera decora, photograph KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsIndigofera decora, photograph Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsIndigofera decora, photograph Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsIndigofera decora, photograph Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsIndigofera decora, photograph Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-12.5°C
Record low -17.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,949mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes March to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Indigofera decora, commonly known as summer wisteria, is a species of shrub native to China and Japan that has since been introduced to Australia and Sri Lanka. A member of the genus Indigofera, its family is Fabaceae and is used primarily for decorative purposes, though it has also been used to make indigo-colored dye.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Indigofera decora", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,385 mm of 1,880 mm) falls in March to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 16.8 °C against a yearly mean of 11.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to March.

Rain

1,880 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,385 mm of it March to September. Wettest month July at 263 mm, driest month December at 63 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,227 mm to 3,020 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,949 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,880 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -12.5 °C, the absolute minimum -17.6 °C, 5,893 frost nights in 44 years, 133.9 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -7.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -10.8 °C to 1.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.2 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -12.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -148 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Indigofera decora through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -7.3 °C; 1,880 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost31.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-17.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 16–35RH 59–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 28 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C3 / 0–84 / 1–98 / 5–1315 / 12–1920 / 17–2323 / 20–2626 / 24–2927 / 25–2924 / 21–2518 / 15–2112 / 9–166 / 3–11
Night °C-7 / -11–2-6 / -9–2-2 / -5–55 / 1–1010 / 7–1515 / 12–1919 / 16–2319 / 17–2316 / 13–2010 / 6–143 / 0–9-3 / -7–4
Rain mm81 / 49–13399 / 58–148154 / 91–270149 / 82–319179 / 101–350242 / 139–468263 / 156–374173 / 123–340225 / 148–332148 / 96–195104 / 71–15063 / 41–106
DLI18 / 16–2022 / 18–2529 / 21–3134 / 26–3635 / 29–3732 / 27–3532 / 31–3432 / 31–3326 / 24–2722 / 21–2418 / 16–1916 / 15–18
RH %60 / 57–6359 / 56–6459 / 57–6459 / 56–6361 / 58–6365 / 61–6766 / 63–6865 / 61–6864 / 62–6762 / 60–6360 / 58–6259 / 57–61
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 28 grid cells holding the 29 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1071:6365 (36.425, 138.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -17.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -12.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 28 distinct grid cells holding 29 of the 29 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1071:6365 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_138.125, lapse-corrected -148 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 727 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 2972450 (Indigofera decora Lindl., 667 records), 7650062 (Anil decora (Lindl.) Kuntze, 0 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast, Japan · introduced: KwaZulu-Natal, Sri Lanka, New South Wales, Queensland · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker24.399, 113.988 · in the densest population, 114 records (47% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 243 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 29 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 145 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2397 km away. 80 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 214 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 2972450 (Indigofera decora Lindl.): Kew's file holds it as Indigofera decora Lindl. (accepted); 667 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 7650062 (Anil decora (Lindl.) Kuntze): Kew's file holds it as Anil decora (Lindl.) Kuntze (synonym under Indigofera decora Lindl.); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 243 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Indigofera decora, photograph 1did not loadIndigofera decora, photograph 2did not loadIndigofera decora, photograph 3did not loadIndigofera decora, photograph 4did not loadIndigofera decora, photograph 5did not loadIndigofera decora, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Callicarpa × shirasawana Lamiaceae Akebia × pentaphylla Akebia × pentaphylla Chocolate vine Photo: CC BY, りなべるLespedeza buergeri Lespedeza buergeri Fabaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAcer crataegifolium Acer crataegifolium Hawthorn-Leaf Maple Photo: CC BY, 岸本年郎Pertya glabrescens Pertya glabrescens Asteraceae Photo: CC0, author not statedDiabelia spathulata Diabelia spathulata Spatulate-leaf abelia Photo: CC BY, plant 0302

Other Indigofera 30 in the reference

Indigofera amblyantha Indigofera amblyantha Pink-Flowered Indigo Photo: CC BY-SA, 阿橋 HQIndigofera ammoxylon Indigofera ammoxylon Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, justine decrooIndigofera australis Indigofera australis Australian indigo Photo: CC BY-SA, James K. DouchIndigofera bungeana Indigofera bungeana False indigo Photo: CC BY, angryphycoIndigofera caroliniana Indigofera caroliniana Carolina indigo Photo: CC0, author not statedIndigofera cassioides Indigofera cassioides Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Firos AKIndigofera cytisoides Indigofera cytisoides Brilliant Indigo Photo: CC BY-SA, Paul EmmsIndigofera hedyantha Indigofera hedyantha Regret Indigo Photo: CC BY, Morten RossIndigofera hendecaphylla Indigofera hendecaphylla Trailing indigo Photo: CC0, author not statedIndigofera heterantha Indigofera heterantha Himalayan indigo Photo: CC0, author not statedIndigofera heterophylla Indigofera heterophylla Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dave UIndigofera hilaris Indigofera hilaris Cheery Indigo Photo: CC BY-SA, Antoinette Eyssell Knox all 31 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Echinolobium incarnatum; Hedysarum incanum; Hedysarum incarnatum; Indigofera faberi; Indigofera incarnata f. alba and 12 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Lindl.
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Japan
Wild records
243 in range · 145 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Indigofera decora Lindl. (plant_name_id 2863852), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 667 records of GBIF's key 2972450, Indigofera decora Lindl. (Kew's file holds it as Indigofera decora Lindl. (accepted)): the GBIF download; 0 records of GBIF's key 7650062, Anil decora (Lindl.) Kuntze (Kew's file holds it as Anil decora (Lindl.) Kuntze (synonym under Indigofera decora Lindl.)): GBIF occurrence search API; 14 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (12 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_138.125, lapse-corrected -148 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 499218-1, POWO 499218-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 56 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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