Lupinus stiversii

Harlequin lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Harlequin lupine is a California native annual found in the Sierra Nevada, northern Santa Lucia Mountains of Monterey County, San Gabriel Mountains, and San Bernardino Mountains in clearings, chaparral, and foothill woodlands at elevations of 100 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces distinctive yellow banner flowers with pink wings and white keel, arranged in dense spiraled clusters typically 3 to 8 centimeters long. Growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall with sparsely hairy stems, it forms an upright annual with delicate branching. Its bright green leaves have seven leaflets, each 20 to 50 millimeters long and 5 to 15 millimeters wide, creating a fine, feathery appearance. The fruit develops as a pod approximately 2 centimeters long, generally smooth and containing about five seeds.

Habitat: Locally common. Clearings, open areas, chaparral, foothill woodland, yellow pine forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 100-2200 m

Bioregions: SN, n SCoRO (Monterey Co.), SnGb, SnBr.

California counties: El Dorado, Fresno, Tuolumne, Los Angeles, Tulare, Amador, Calaveras, Plumas, Mariposa, Madera, Monterey, San Bernardino, Kern, Inyo, Butte, Placer, Tehama, Yuba, Nevada, Sonoma, San Francisco

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