Lupinus leucophyllus

Velvet lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Velvet lupine is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, Cascade Range Foothills, and North Coast Ranges in grassy hillsides and sagebrush flats at elevations of 500 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces lavender to purple flowers 10 to 13 millimeters long with a distinctive yellow to brown spot on the banner. Growing 40 to 90 centimeters tall with erect, branched stems covered in white woolly and long stiff hairs, it has an upright and bushy appearance. Its leaves are composed of 7 to 11 leaflets, each 30 to 70 millimeters long and 6 to 17 millimeters wide, with stipule lobes 6 to 15 millimeters long. The fruit is 2 to 3 centimeters long and hairy, containing 3 to 6 mottled gray-tan seeds.

Habitat: Grassy hillsides, sagebrush flats

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 500-2000 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, MP

California counties: Siskiyou, Shasta, Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, Monterey, Mono, Plumas, Sonoma, San Diego, Napa

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