Lupinus arbustus

Spurred lupine, Spur Lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Spurred lupine is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Great Basin, and southern California mountains in open sagebrush scrub and mixed-conifer forest at elevations of 1,500 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces blue, purple, pink, white, or pale yellow flowers with a distinctive white or yellow spot on the banner petal. Growing 20 to 70 centimeters tall with erect green or gray-silky stems, it develops an open branching structure with whorled flower clusters. Its leaves feature 7 to 13 leaflets that are 20 to 70 millimeters long, strigose on the upper surface, with prominent stipules 4 to 9 millimeters long. The plant produces silky fruits 2 to 3 centimeters long, containing 3 to 6 tan seeds 5 to 6 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Open sagebrush scrub, mixed-conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 1500-3000 m

Bioregions: CaRH, SNH, SnGb, GB

California counties: Alpine, Mono, Los Angeles, Kern, Inyo, Siskiyou, Ventura, Butte, Placer, Modoc, El Dorado, Nevada, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Tuolumne, Shasta, Mariposa, Tehama

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.