Lupinus grayi

Gray's lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Gray's lupine is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada in open yellow pine and red fir forests at elevations of 500 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces deep purple to light blue flowers with yellow spots turning reddish, arranged in whorled clusters 10 to 16 centimeters long. Growing 20 to 35 centimeters tall with prostrate to matted stems that are spreading-tomentose to woolly, it spreads across the forest floor. Its leaves are primarily basal with 5 to 11 leaflets, each 10 to 35 millimeters long, supported by petioles 5 to 12 centimeters in length. The fruit is a hairy pod 2 to 3.5 centimeters long, containing 4 to 6 mottled gray-brown seeds with a distinctive dark lateral line.

Habitat: Common. Open yellow pine and red fir forests

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 500-2500 m

Bioregions: SN.

California counties: Fresno, El Dorado, Kern, Tuolumne, Lassen, Tulare, Plumas, Nevada, Tehama, Mariposa, Sierra, Monterey, Butte, Amador, Placer, Madera, Siskiyou, Shasta, Merced, Inyo, Ventura, San Bernardino, Calaveras, Colusa

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