Lupinus arizonicus

Arizona lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Arizona lupine is a California native annual found in eastern Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert regions in sandy washes and open areas at elevations below 1,100 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces dark pink to magenta flowers that dry to blue-purple, with distinctive yellow banner spots that darken to deeper magenta with age. Growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall with short-appressed and long-spreading hairs, it has an open, branching form. Its compound leaves feature 6 to 10 leaflets, each 10 to 40 millimeters long and 4 to 12 millimeters wide, with smooth upper surfaces. The fruit develops along one side of the flowering stem, measuring 1 to 2 centimeters long and covered in coarse hairs.

Habitat: Locally common. Sandy washes, open areas

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1100 m

Bioregions: e DMoj, DSon

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Inyo, Imperial, San Diego, Kern, Los Angeles

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