Flora of North America species comparison

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Lupinus diffusus

Oak Ridge lupine, skyblue lupine
Habit Herbs, usually perennial, sometimes annual or biennial, 2–8 dm, densely silky-pubescent, silvery becoming rusty or tawny.
Stems

decumbent, spreading, many branched.
Leaves

basal, clustered;

stipules 20–150 mm;

petiole 2.5–10 cm;

leaflet 1, blades 40–120 × 18–33 mm, adaxial surface densely sericeous or strigulose.
Racemes

8–30 cm;

flowers whorled.
Peduncles

3–4 cm;

bracts deciduous, 4–8 mm.
Pedicels

1–4 mm.
Flowers

11–15 mm;

calyx abaxial lobe entire, 5–10 mm, adaxial lobe 3-fid with 2 linear laterals, 4–8 mm;

corolla light to deep blue, limb centrally white at base, banner spot white to cream, glabrous abaxially, keel glabrous.
Legumes

3–5 cm, appressed villous to sericeous.
Cotyledons

deciduous, petiolate.
Seeds

4–7, gray mottled black, 4 mm.

Lupinus diffusus
Phenology Flowering Mar–May (year-round).
Habitat Sandhills, sand pine scrub, open woodlands.
Elevation 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Lupinus diffusus differs from the other unifoliolate species in its much shorter pubescence and banners with a white eyespot. Lupinus cumulicola represents peninsular Florida forms that have strongly ascending foliose stems and sometimes broader leaves than usual. Some plants of L. diffusus from southern Florida have a vesture of hairs that approach those of L. villosus in length.

Lupinus diffusus seeds are known to be toxic (D. J. Wagstaff 2008).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lupinus
Sibling taxa
L. adsurgens, L. affinis, L. albicaulis, L. albifrons, L. andersonii, L. angustiflorus, L. antoninus, L. apertus, L. arboreus, L. arbustus, L. arcticus, L. argenteus, L. arizonicus, L. benthamii, L. bicolor, L. brevicaulis, L. breweri, L. cervinus, L. chamissonis, L. citrinus, L. concinnus, L. constancei, L. covillei, L. croceus, L. dalesiae, L. duranii, L. elatus, L. elmeri, L. excubitus, L. flavoculatus, L. formosus, L. fulcratus, L. gracilentus, L. grayi, L. guadalupensis, L. havardii, L. hirsutissimus, L. huachucanus, L. hyacinthinus, L. kingii, L. kuschei, L. lapidicola, L. latifolius, L. lepidus, L. leucophyllus, L. littoralis, L. longifolius, L. ludovicianus, L. luteolus, L. magnificus, L. malacophyllus, L. microcarpus, L. nanus, L. neomexicanus, L. nevadensis, L. nipomensis, L. nootkatensis, L. obtusilobus, L. odoratus, L. onustus, L. oreganus, L. pachylobus, L. padrecrowleyi, L. peirsonii, L. perennis, L. polyphyllus, L. pratensis, L. pusillus, L. rivularis, L. sabineanus, L. sericatus, L. sericeus, L. shockleyi, L. sierrae-blancae, L. sparsiflorus, L. spectabilis, L. stiversii, L. subcarnosus, L. succulentus, L. sulphureus, L. texensis, L. tidestromii, L. tracyi, L. truncatus, L. uncialis, L. villosus, L. westianus
Synonyms L. cumulicola
Name authority Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 2: 93. (1818)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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