Flower profile
Scarlet pea
Indigofera miniata
Scarlet pea (Indigofera miniata) is a flowering plant in the Fabaceae family, native in the lower 48 states, blooming mostly April–September across the U.S.
Scarlet pea is a wildflower that USDA PLANTS lists as native in the lower 48 states. In Texas it's most often seen in bloom in April–September.
*iNaturalist research-grade observations, as of October 17, 2026.
On our lists for: Texas
Quick look
Indigofera miniata, the scarlet pea or coastal indigo, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the US states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, and Florida, and to Mexico, Guatemala, and Cuba. It is a prostrate perennial with stems that are about 60 cm (2 ft) long, and salmon pink flowers.
- It belongs to the Fabaceae family. iNaturalist
- USDA PLANTS describes it as an herb (forb) with a perennial life cycle. USDA PLANTS
- USDA PLANTS lists it as native in the lower 48 states and records it in 8 states. USDA PLANTS
- NatureServe lists it as native to Texas. NatureServe
- In Texas, most iNaturalist sightings of it in flower come in April–September. iNaturalist
- iNaturalist has 7,602 research-grade sightings of it in Texas, ranking #82 among the 169 flowers on our Texas list. iNaturalist
When does it bloom?
In Texas, most flowering sightings come in April–September.
Conservation status
- Federal (U.S. ESA)
- Not listed No U.S. Endangered Species Act listing in the USFWS ECOS database. USFWS ECOS
- NatureServe global
- G5 Secure worldwide. NatureServe
- Texas
- Not listed Not on Texas endangered and threatened plants (31 Tex. Admin. Code § 69.8), as listed by Texas Parks and Wildlife. NatureServe: SNR, not yet ranked in Texas. 31 TAC 69.8
- Rare elsewhere
- Other states where NatureServe ranks it rare or missing: AR (S2), KS (S2), LA (S1). (S1 critically imperiled, S2 imperiled, SH possibly extirpated, SX presumed extirpated.)
Checked October 17, 2026. Rankings and lists can change, so follow the links for the latest.
Can you eat it?
None of the sources we checked (NC State Extension (no page for this plant), USDA PLANTS) say whether it's edible or poisonous for people.
It isn't on the ASPCA plant list.
🌿 Never eat a wild plant unless you're certain of its ID; this isn't medical advice. Worried about a person? Call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. Worried about a pet? Call your vet.
Where does it grow?
USDA PLANTS records scarlet pea in 8 states.
recorded by USDA PLANTS on our state lists not recorded
See the full list of states
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas.
Texas counties with USDA records: Anderson, Aransas, Atascosa, Bandera, Bastrop, Bee, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Brazoria, Brazos, Brooks, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Childress, Clay, Collingsworth, Colorado, Comal, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, DeWitt, Dickens, Dimmit, Donley, Duval, Erath, Falls, Fayette, Frio, Galveston, Gillespie, Goliad, Gonzales, Gray, Grayson, Grimes, Hays, Hemphill, Henderson, Hidalgo, Houston, Jefferson, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kendall, Kenedy, Kerr, Kleberg, La Salle, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Lipscomb, Llano, Mason, Matagorda, McLennan, McMullen, Medina, Menard, Montague, Montgomery, Motley, Nueces, Ochiltree, Orange, Palo Pinto, Parker, Polk, Real, Refugio, Roberts, Robertson, Rusk, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Smith, Starr, Tarrant, Terrell, Travis, Uvalde, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Washington, Webb, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger, Willacy, Williamson, Wilson, Wise, Wood, Young, Zapata.
Names, range and relatives
Other scientific names (synonyms in USDA PLANTS): Indigofera leptosepala.
County records: USDA PLANTS lists it in 152 counties across 7 states; the most are in Texas (103), Oklahoma (32), Florida (7).
Other Indigofera on Bloomipedia (1): Creeping indigo.
More from the Fabaceae family (114 on Bloomipedia; most observed first): Lupines, White clover, Red clover, Eastern redbud, Purple crownvetch, Bird's-foot trefoil, Partridge pea, White sweetclover.
More Texas flowers
Sources
- USDA, NRCS. PLANTS Database, profile INMI.
- iNaturalist, Indigofera miniata: taxonomy, research-grade observation counts and “Flowering” annotations, retrieved October 17, 2026.
- Wikipedia, Indigofera miniata (lead quoted under CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Texas: Texas endangered and threatened plants (31 Tex. Admin. Code § 69.8), as listed by Texas Parks and Wildlife.
- Texas: Texas noxious and invasive plant list (4 Tex. Admin. Code § 19.300(a)).
- USFWS, ECOS species database (ESA listing check), October 17, 2026.
- NatureServe Explorer, Indigofera miniata (global and state ranks).
- Edibility and toxicity: no source found (marked "not well documented").
- Photo: johnyochum via iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 · resized.