Lupinus latifolius

Bigleaf lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Bigleaf lupine is a California native perennial herb found in montane and subalpine habitats at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces blue, purple, or white flowers with distinctive white to yellow spots that turn purple on the banner, arranged in open inflorescences 16 to 60 centimeters long. Growing with erect green stems 30 to 240 centimeters tall, it develops an upright, robust form with multiple branching characteristics. Its palmately compound leaves have 5 to 11 leaflets, each 4 to 10 centimeters long, with upper leaf surfaces glabrous and lower surfaces slightly hairy. The fruit is a densely hairy pod 2 to 4.5 centimeters long, containing 6 to 10 mottled dark brown seeds.

California counties: Humboldt, Los Angeles, Lake, Contra Costa, Plumas, San Bernardino, Tuolumne, Inyo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Riverside, Ventura, San Mateo, Kern, El Dorado, Mono, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Alameda, Orange, Sonoma, Modoc, Marin, Glenn, Santa Clara, Butte, Yuba, Tehama, Trinity, Mariposa, Fresno, Napa, Monterey, Siskiyou, Del Norte, Madera, Mendocino, San Diego, Amador, Sierra, Calaveras, San Benito, Alpine, Placer

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