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Indigofera hirsuta; photograph (c) John Baur, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) John Baur, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-01-22

Indigofera hirsuta L.

Rough hairy indigo; Hairy indigo

Fabaceae · Cape Verde, Benin +80

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Indigofera hirsuta, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Indigofera hirsuta, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Indigofera hirsuta, photograph (c) Ashwin Srinivasan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Indigofera hirsuta, photograph (c) John Baur, some rights reserved (CC BY)Indigofera hirsuta, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Indigofera hirsuta, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) 85 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
12.9°C
Record low 9.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,102mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–42DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  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 December to May (the habitat's months, not shifted), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Indigofera hirsuta, the hairy indigo or rough hairy indigo, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to nearly all the world's tropics; South America, Africa, Madagascar, the Indian Subcontinent, southern China, southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia and Australia, and has been introduced to the Caribbean, the southeast United States, Mexico and Central America. It is used as a green manure and, to a minor extent, for forage.

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (689 mm of 961 mm) falls in December to May, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.0 °C against a yearly mean of 24.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

961 mm in the median year at the habitat, 689 mm of it December to May. Wettest month February at 156 mm, driest months (2 at 32 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 668 mm to 2,017 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,102 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 961 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: 27 to 42 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 12.9 °C, the absolute minimum 9.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 16.8 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 8.7 °C to 23.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.5 °C in December (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.9 °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: 57 to 62% 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 -22 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 hirsuta through the yearWarmest month December, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 16.8 °C; 961 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.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°32.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER9.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 27–42RH 57–62%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 341 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 °C30 / 27–3530 / 27–3530 / 27–3529 / 25–3428 / 22–3226 / 19–3026 / 19–2926 / 20–3128 / 23–3429 / 25–3530 / 26–3631 / 27–36
Night °C23 / 19–2623 / 20–2623 / 18–2522 / 16–2520 / 13–2518 / 10–2417 / 9–2318 / 9–2320 / 12–2422 / 15–2523 / 17–2623 / 19–26
Rain mm143 / 9–331156 / 22–336112 / 49–28586 / 29–24271 / 14–23347 / 8–23235 / 4–20932 / 1–18232 / 3–18955 / 15–15471 / 12–133121 / 11–233
DLI39 / 34–4337 / 34–4136 / 32–4033 / 28–3730 / 23–3427 / 21–3227 / 22–3331 / 26–3838 / 28–4341 / 30–4742 / 32–4741 / 32–45
RH %61 / 50–6662 / 52–6761 / 52–6660 / 50–6660 / 47–6759 / 46–6858 / 45–6857 / 44–6858 / 45–6859 / 47–6759 / 49–6660 / 49–66

Records on both sides of the equator: the 102 cells at least 10° north of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 341 cells that remain: the 228 at least 10° south and the 113 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 341 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (384 records in those cells; 11 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), 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 2252:6614 (-22.625, 150.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.0 °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 341 distinct grid cells holding 384 of the 512 in-range records (11 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out) on the southern side of the equator (102 cells poleward of 10° north, 228 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2252:6614 (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 -22.50_150.625, lapse-corrected -22 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 5 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.
NativeCape Verde, Benin, Burkina, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Free State, Northern Provinces, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Cocos (Keeling) I., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, French Guiana, Guyana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South · introduced: Chagos Archipelago, Nansei-shoto, Northern Territory, Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, Honduras, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Windward Is., Colombia · 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 marker7.213, 2.355 · in the densest population, 166 records (17% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual, perennial or subshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 976 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 384 of them in the land cells it reads, of 512 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 811 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 810 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 464 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.
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 976 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 hirsuta, photograph 1did not loadIndigofera hirsuta, photograph 2did not loadIndigofera hirsuta, photograph 3did not loadIndigofera hirsuta, photograph 4did not loadIndigofera hirsuta, photograph 5did not loadIndigofera hirsuta, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Ashwin Srinivasan, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) John Baur, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Hemionitis tenuifolia Pteridaceae Dentella repens Dentella repens Creeping Dentella Photo: CC BY, portioidUtricularia caerulea Utricularia caerulea Blue Bladderwort Photo: CC0, author not statedGonatopus boivinii Gonatopus boivinii Giraffe's Knees Photo: CC BY, Tom FieldEuphorbia comosa Euphorbia comosa Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Diogo LuizStrophanthus courmontii Strophanthus courmontii Tailless tail-flower Photo: CC BY, i_c_riddell

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 decora Indigofera decora Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, KENPEIIndigofera 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 U all 31 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Anil hirsuta; Anila hirsuta; Anila indica; Astragalus spicatus; Hedysarum coccineum and 10 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Cape Verde, Benin, Burkina +79
Wild records
976 in range · 811 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
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 41 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (20 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 17 at a herbarium, 4 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 -22.50_150.625, lapse-corrected -22 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media 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 173 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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