Lupinus hirsutissimus
Stinging lupine
Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native
Stinging lupine is a California native annual found in central coastal areas including San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains, and southwestern regions in dry, rocky coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and open woodlands at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces dark pink to magenta flowers with a yellow banner spot that dries to purple, clustered in spiraled inflorescences 10 to 30 centimeters long. Growing 2 to 10 decimeters tall, often reaching over 1 meter after fire, the plant has distinctive short-appressed and stiff-spreading stinging hairs that cover its stems. Its leaves have 5 to 8 leaflets, each 2 to 5 centimeters long and 1 to 2 centimeters wide, arranged on petioles 4 to 9 centimeters long. The fruit is 2 to 4 centimeters long, covered in coarse hairs, and contains 3 to 6 seeds.
Habitat: Locally common. Dry, rocky areas, burns, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, open woodlands
Bloom period: Mar-May
Elevation: < 1400 m
Bioregions: c&s CW (SnFrB, SCoRO, possibly others), SW
California counties: San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.