Wild Lupine

(Lupinus perennis)

 

   

 

Color Photograph: Paul Jackson, Cedar Creek Natural History Area, LTER, U.S. Dept. Energy and National Science Foundation.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis L.)

Identification: Flowers blue-violet, pealike, large, and showy. Flowers arranged in an elongate flower spike (raceme). Seedpods trapezoidal, elongate. Stems hairy. Leaves hairy, palmate, radiating into 7 to 9 leaflets. Plant 1 to 2 feet in height.

Distribution: Minnesota in the west to Maine in the east, southward to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Wild Lupine is found on dry soils in open woods or woodland clearings.

Flowering period: April to July.

Similar Species: The palmate leaves and violet, pea-like flowers are distinctive. Cultivated lupines of mixed parentage sometimes escape from cultivation. These flowers can be violet, pink, or white.

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