Lupinus albifrons
evergreen lupine, silver bush lupine, silver lupine, white-leaf bush lupine
decumbent to erect, clustered, branched or unbranched.
cauline, clustered near base or not;
stipules 6–20 mm;
petiole 1–8(–12) cm;
leaflets 6–10, blades 10–45 × 4–18 mm, surfaces hairy.
4–40 cm, rachis usually deciduous or semideciduous;
flowers usually spirally arranged or loosely whorled.
5–13 cm;
bracts deciduous, 4–24 mm.
3–10 mm.
10–18 mm;
calyx bulge or spur 0–1 mm, abaxial lobe entire or 3-toothed, 6–10 mm, adaxial lobe deeply divided, 6–8 mm;
corolla violet to lavender, patch usually yellow, rarely white, turning purple, banner usually hairy abaxially, rarely glabrous, keel usually unlobed proximally, adaxial margin usually ciliate middle to tip, abaxial margins glabrous.
3–5 cm, hairy.
deciduous, petiolate.
4–9, mottled tan, 4–6 mm.
Lupinus albifrons
Varieties 8 (8 in the flora).
Lupinus albifrons is the most common shrubby lupine in western North America. The combination of silver-pubescent leaves, banners that are pubescent abaxially, and keels that are usually ciliate will separate it from the coastal L. arboreus and the dune loving L. chamissonis. The desert L. excubitus is separated by petiole length, raceme rachis persistence and size, elevation, and distribution. Some of the varieties (austromontanus, collinus, and medius) are woody at base but can appear herbaceous.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Shrubs, 5–50 dm. | → 2 |
2. Flowers 14–18 mm; leaves greenish hairy. | var. hallii |
2. Flowers 10–14 mm; leaves silver-silky. | → 3 |
3. Inflorescence bracts 4–8 mm; coastal California, s Oregon. | var. albifrons |
3. Inflorescence bracts 10–24 mm; San Francisco Bay region, Central Coast, n Channel Islands, California. | var. douglasii |
1. Subshrubs (occasionally semi-herbaceous and woody at base), 1–7(–10) dm. | → 4 |
4. Flowers 14–18 mm. | → 5 |
5. Plants herbaceous toward base; racemes 14–40 cm; Tehachapi Mountains, California, southward. | var. austromontanus |
5. Plants woody toward base; racemes 6–12 cm; San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, California. | var. johnstonii |
4. Flowers 10–16 mm. | → 6 |
6. Petioles to 12 cm; Sonora Desert, California. | var. medius |
6. Petioles 3–8 cm; cismontane California. | → 7 |
7. Pubescence woolly to shaggy; shrubs or subshrubs 2–10 dm; Santa Lucia Mountains, Monterey County, California. | var. abramsii |
7. Pubescence appressed-silvery, not woolly or shaggy; subshrubs 2–4 dm; n, s Coast Ranges, n Sierra Nevada Foothills, California, Oregon. | var. collinus |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
