White Indigo

Finke Gorge National Park

FloraCommon Reed Ghost Gum Desert Lantern Flower MacDonnell Ranges Cycad Narrow-leaved Cumbungi Native Fig Orange Spade Flower Red Cabbage Palm Soft Spinifex White Cypress Pine White Indigo

The White Indigo (Indigofera leucotricha) are one of the native plants that can often be seen as you travel through Finke Gorge National Park. A whitish looking shrub (sometimes described as a white woolly appearance), that can be dry and brittle, especially during Central Australia’s dry periods. During the dry, the White Indigo will drop its leaves, drying out to reshoot after the next rain.

A small spreading shrub that can grow to 1 metre in height, with leaves up to 4 cm long, composed of 9-13 wedge-shaped small leaflets. The small pink to red pea flowers are on short spikes. Usually flowering between June to September. The narrow seed pods are cylindrical, 20-35 mm long and densely woolly.

The White Indigo was seen driving through Finke Gorge National Park and at the first picnic resting point.

Found growing on rocky hill-slopes, ridges and creek beds, in Central Australia, they can be seen in the Finke River Gorge, Palm Valley and Ndhala Gorge.