Lupinus formosus

Lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Lupine is a California native perennial herb found in grasslands and oak woodlands at elevations of 300 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces deep purple flowers with white banner spots in dense whorled clusters 10 to 30 centimeters long. Growing 20 to 80 centimeters tall with spreading to nearly erect stems densely covered in gray to silver hairs, it forms substantial clusters with woody underground rhizomes. Its compound leaves have 7 to 9 elongated leaflets, each 25 to 70 millimeters long, arranged palmately with distinctive gray-green coloration. The fruit develops as a hairy pod 3 to 4.5 centimeters long, containing 5 to 7 mottled brown seeds.

California counties: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Mateo, Alameda, San Diego, Riverside, Tulare, Mendocino, Mariposa, San Bernardino, Ventura, Kern, Solano, Sonoma, Contra Costa, Madera, Tehama, Butte, Plumas, Marin, Napa, Humboldt, San Luis Obispo, Tuolumne, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Colusa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Benito, Yolo, El Dorado, Placer, Merced, Sacramento, Shasta, Stanislaus, Inyo, Siskiyou

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