Lupinus polyphyllus
Bigleaf lupine
(c) Henrik Kibak, some rights reserved (CC BY) · licence
Family: Fabaceae · Type: Herb · Native
Lupinus polyphyllus (Bigleaf lupine) is a native California herb in the Fabaceae family.
Bigleaf lupine is a California native perennial found in western North American mountain and coastal habitats from low to mid-elevation ranges. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces blue, violet, lavender, pink, or white flowers with distinctive yellow to white spots that occasionally turn red-purple, clustered in open inflorescences 5 to 40 centimeters long. Growing 15 to 150 centimeters tall with erect green stems, it develops a robust structure with both basal and stem-based leaves. Its distinctive leaves feature 5 to 17 green to silver leaflets, each 3 to 15 centimeters long and 5 to 25 millimeters wide, arranged in a palmate configuration. The fruit is a hairy pod 2 to 5 centimeters long containing 3 to 9 seeds.
Habitat and range
California counties: Alpine, El Dorado, Tulare, Fresno, Del Norte, Placer, Mono, Nevada, Sierra, Modoc, Marin, Plumas, Humboldt, Napa, Tuolumne, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, San Mateo, Monterey, Shasta, Mendocino, San Francisco, Glenn, Sonoma, Santa Clara, Lake, Solano, Yolo, Tehama
How to tell it apart
vs Salvia: Lupine has pea flowers and palmate leaves; sage has tubular two-lipped flowers and opposite leaves.; vs Artemisia: Lupine has large showy flower spikes; sagebrush has tiny inconspicuous flowers and silvery aromatic foliage.; vs Thermopsis: Lupine typically has 7-11 leaflets; false lupine has exactly 3 leaflets and bright yellow flowers.; vs Delphinium: Lupine has pea flowers; larkspur has flowers with prominent backward-pointing spur.; vs Vicia: Lupine is upright with palmate leaves; vetch is climbing with pinnate leaves and tendrils.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lupinus polyphyllus native to California?
Yes. Lupinus polyphyllus is native to California (recorded as native).
Where in California does Lupinus polyphyllus grow?
Lupinus polyphyllus occurs in Alpine, El Dorado, Tulare, Fresno, Del Norte, Placer, Mono, Nevada and other counties.
What plant family does Lupinus polyphyllus belong to?
Lupinus polyphyllus is in the Fabaceae family, genus Lupinus.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
- Lupinus polyphyllus var. burkei — Burke's lupine
- Lupinus polyphyllus var. humicola — Holmgren's lupine
- Lupinus polyphyllus var. polyphyllus — Meadow lupine
- Lupinus polyphyllus var. saxosus — Rock lupine
- Lupinus pratensis — Inyo meadow lupine
- Lupinus pratensis var. eriostachyus — Hairy bannered inyo meadow lupine
Sources: Jepson eFlora · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.