About Indigofera suffruticosa Mill.
Indigofera suffruticosa has several common names: Guatemalan indigo, small-leaved indigo (used in Sierra Leone), West Indian indigo, wild indigo, and anil. It is a flowering plant belonging to the pea family, Fabaceae. Anil is native to subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas, including the Southern United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America extending south to northern Argentina. This species has been widely introduced to other regions across the globe and currently has a pantropical distribution. It is an erect branching shrub that reaches 1 meter (3.3 feet) in height, with pinnate leaves. It commonly grows in dry, highly disturbed areas such as roadsides and fallow fields. Anil is often used as a source of indigo dye; when mixed with Palygorskite clays, it can produce Maya blue, a pigment historically used by Mesoamerican civilizations.
