Lupinus bicolor

Miniature lupine, Miniature Lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Miniature lupine is a California native annual herb found in the California Floristic Province and Mojave Desert in open or disturbed areas at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces blue, pink, or white flowers with white banner spots that turn magenta with age, clustered in 2 to 5 whorled spirals. Growing 10 to 40 centimeters tall with hairy stems, it develops a compact and delicate form. Its palmate leaves consist of 5 to 7 slender leaflets 10 to 40 millimeters long, mostly smooth on the upper surface. The fruit is a small, hairy pod 1 to 3 centimeters long containing 5 to 8 seeds.

Habitat: Abundant. Open or disturbed areas, many plant communities

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, DMoj

California counties: Humboldt, Riverside, Placer, Calaveras, San Luis Obispo, Kern, San Diego, Los Angeles, Yolo, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Tehama, Butte, Orange, Imperial, Inyo, Tulare, Monterey, Del Norte, San Benito, Lake, El Dorado, Fresno, Shasta, San Francisco, Solano, Alameda, Napa, San Mateo, San Joaquin, Sonoma, Mariposa, Contra Costa, Colusa, Merced, Santa Clara, Madera, Mendocino, Sacramento, Trinity, Amador, Sutter, Nevada, Yuba, Sierra, Stanislaus, Modoc, Marin, Santa Cruz, Glenn, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Plumas

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