# Shining Indigobush (Amorpha nitens) > A rare indigobush of southern stream banks and wooded slopes, with glossy leaflets and dark purple spikes lit by orange anthers in spring. Also called shining false indigo, dark indigobush. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shining-indigobush/ ![Shining indigobush (Amorpha nitens) dark flower spikes with orange anthers above broad leaflets](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/shining-indigobush-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAmorpha_nitens.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 3 to 10 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 9 - Grows wild in: Stream banks, floodplain forests, rocky ground and rich moist slopes - Native range: 10 states, north to Illinois, south to Louisiana and west to Oklahoma (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee) - Sun: Part, Full - Soil moisture: Average, Wet, Dry - Growth rate: Fast - Traits: Rare, Showy flowers, Tolerates wet soil, Nitrogen fixing - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Shining indigobush is a shrub of the Southeast, from southern Illinois and western Kentucky to South Carolina and west to eastern Oklahoma. It grows along creeks and rivers, on wooded slopes and bluffs, and at the edges of glades. Its leaflets are glossy above and turn black when dried, while those of our indigobush are dull. It is common only in Arkansas. Illinois lists it as endangered, and NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Missouri and South Carolina. Mass it along a stream bank or at the edge of a wooded slope, where its dark spikes show in spring. ## Size, growth and what to expect No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator uses the fast rate of our indigobush, about 2.75 feet a year while young. It makes an erect or sprawling shrub 3 to 10 feet tall. Its leaves run 4 to 8 inches long, with 7 to 19 glossy leaflets up to nearly 3 inches long. Erect spikes 2 to 10 inches long open from April into June. Each small flower has one purple-black petal and ten long stamens tipped in orange. The smooth pods, about a quarter inch long with a single seed, ripen from June into August. It grows wild from southern Illinois and western Kentucky south to Georgia and South Carolina, and west to eastern Oklahoma and Louisiana, where it may be gone. Its home is moist woods along creeks and rivers, bottomlands, ravines, bluffs, rocky slopes and glade edges, often over limestone. Dams, clearing and invasive plants such as Japanese honeysuckle threaten it. ## How to grow Shining Indigobush Shining indigobush grows in part shade or sun, in an average to moist soil. It takes the wet ground of stream banks and bottomlands, and it also grows on rocky limestone slopes. Set plants 5 feet apart and 5 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Other amorphas have a hard seed coat that a winter outdoors helps to soften. Sow the seed outdoors in fall, about a quarter inch deep. Water weekly through the first summer, then only in long droughts. Deer browse it, so cage young plants where deer are many. Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Like other amorphas, it fixes its own nitrogen, so skip fertilizer. ## Sources - [NatureServe Explorer: Amorpha nitens, Shining Indigobush](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.155799/Amorpha_nitens) - [Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Biodiversity Portal: Amorpha nitens, Shining Indigo-bush](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=19342) - [Wilbur 1975, A revision of the North American genus Amorpha (Leguminosae-Psoraleae), Rhodora 77(811): 337-409, species 11](https://archive.org/details/biostor-138235) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Amorpha nitens, Shining False Indigo](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AMNI) - [Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board: Checklist of Illinois Endangered and Threatened Animals and Plants, effective October 31, 2025](https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/espb/documents/et-list-review-and-revision/2025-illinois-list-revision/2025-e-t-checklist.pdf) - [Missouri Department of Conservation: Missouri Species and Communities of Conservation Concern Checklist, January 2024](https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/SOCC%20Checklist%202024_ADA_0.pdf) - [Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory: tracking list](https://obis.ou.edu/tracking-list) - [Alabama Natural Heritage Program: 2023 tracking list](https://cosam.auburn.edu/biology/alnhp/_assets/2023_trackinglist.pdf) - [GBIF occurrence search, preserved specimens of Amorpha nitens in the United States](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=5357379&country=US&basis_of_record=PRESERVED_SPECIMEN) - [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Amorpha nitens, AMNI](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/AMNI) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Amorpha chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Amorpha.pdf) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md) - [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md) - [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Shining Indigobush, add ?species=shining-indigobush with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=shining-indigobush&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Shining Indigobush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=shining-indigobush): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=shining-indigobush - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Shining Indigobush is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=shining-indigobush - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Shining Indigobush needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=shining-indigobush:1 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Shining Indigobush flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.