Lupinus polyphyllus
big-leaf lupine, blue lupine, bog lupine, large-leaf lupine
erect, tufted, unbranched, stout, usually hollow.
basal and cauline;
stipules not leaflike, green to silvery, 5–40 mm;
petiole 3–45 cm, basal long-petiolate and forming a basal tuft, cauline petioles shorter distally;
leaflets (5 or)6–12(–17), blades (10–)30–150 × 5–25 mm, adaxial surface hairy or glabrous.
open, 6–40 cm;
flowers ± whorled.
3–13 cm;
bracts deciduous, 7–11 mm.
(2–)3–15 mm.
9–15 mm;
calyx 4–8 mm, bulge or spur 0–1 mm, lobes entire;
corolla violet to lavender, pink, or white, banner patch yellow to white, sometimes turning red-purple, banner glabrous abaxially, keel upcurved, glabrous, ciliate, or ciliolate.
2.5–5 × 0.7–1 cm, hairy.
deciduous, petiolate.
3–9.
Lupinus polyphyllus
Varieties 6 (6 in the flora).
Lupinus polyphyllus was hybridized with L. arboreus and other species to create the Russell Lupine garden hybrid, which is invasive and occurs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Adaxial surfaces of leaves silky strigulose, gray or silver. | var. humicola |
1. Adaxial surfaces of leaves glabrous or ± puberulent, green. | → 2 |
2. Herbs 5.5–12 dm; adaxial keel glabrous; plants of meadows, streams, or shores. | → 3 |
3. Leaflets 9–17, blades 60–150 mm; widely distributed, Alaska and British Columbia southward to California, eastward to Montana, introduced in Ontario and Michigan, eastward to Prince Edward Island, and southward to Massachusetts and Maryland. | var. polyphyllus |
3. Leaflets 5–11, blades 35–100 mm; British Columbia, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming. | var. burkei |
2. Herbs (1–)1.5–6.5 dm; adaxial keel ciliolate; plants of dry or vernally moist sites. | → 4 |
4. Caudices subterranean, divisions rhizomelike; plants of barren clay sites in oak chaparral and sagebrush, 1200–3000 m. | var. ammophilus |
4. Caudices above ground, divisions closely tufted, not rhizomelike; plants of valleys, foothill canyons, sagebrush scrub, arid microhabitats, 600–3000 m. | → 5 |
5. Herbs (2–)3–6.5 dm; longest leaflet blades 35–110 mm; plants widespread in valleys and foothill canyons at 600–3000 m; Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming. | var. prunophilus |
5. Herbs (1–)1.5–4 dm; longest leaflet blades 20–45 mm; plants of sagebrush scrub and arid microhabitats at 1000–2500 m; California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington. | var. saxosus |
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
