Lupinus sparsiflorus

Coulter's lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Coulter's lupine is a California native annual found in southern coastal ranges, southwestern California, and the Mojave Desert in washes, sandy areas, coastal sage scrub, and creosote bush scrub at elevations below 1,300 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces blue to pink flowers with yellow or white banner spots that darken with age, typically 10 to 12 millimeters long. Growing 15 to 40 centimeters tall with short-appressed and long-spreading hairs, the plant has an open, slender form. Its leaves feature 7 to 11 narrow leaflets 15 to 30 millimeters long, each 2 to 5 millimeters wide, with linear to oblanceolate shapes and hairy margins. The fruit is 1 to 2.5 centimeters long, covered in coarse hairs and containing 4 to 5 seeds.

Habitat: Locally common. Washes, sandy areas, coastal sage scrub, creosote bush scrub, Joshua tree woodland

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: < 1300 m

Bioregions: s SCoR, SW, DMoj

California counties: San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Imperial, Ventura, Kern, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Tulare, Monterey

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