Lupinus rivularis

Riverbank lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Riverbank lupine is a California native perennial found in the northern Coast Ranges in sandy or gravelly open woods and river banks at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces violet flowers in open clusters 15 to 50 centimeters long with distinctive whorled arrangements. Growing with erect stems 35 to 100 centimeters tall, the plant has dark brown to red hollow stems that are nearly glabrous. Its palmate leaves have 5 to 9 leaflets, each 20 to 40 millimeters long and smooth on the upper surface, with distinctive stipules 7 to 15 millimeters long. The fruit is a dark pod 3 to 7 centimeters long, bearing 7 to 8 mottled brown seeds with a distinctive black line.

Habitat: Sand or gravel, open woods, river banks

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: NCo

California counties: Humboldt, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Del Norte, Fresno, Siskiyou, Glenn, Alameda, San Luis Obispo, Tuolumne, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Lake, Santa Barbara, Amador, San Diego, Alpine, Plumas, Mariposa, Placer, El Dorado, Trinity, Shasta, Nevada

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