Lupinus truncatus

Truncated leaf lupine

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Truncated leaf lupine is a California native annual found in central and southwestern coastal California in openings of coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and foothill woodland at elevations below 1,100 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces magenta flowers with a yellow banner spot, 8 to 13 millimeters long, arranged in sparse spiraled clusters. Growing 20 to 50 centimeters tall with finely hairy stems that appear almost smooth, it has a distinctive growth habit with multiple slender branches. Its leaves feature 5 to 8 linear leaflets, each 20 to 40 millimeters long with a characteristically truncate (squared-off) tip. The fruit is a hairy pod 2.5 to 3 centimeters long with 6 to 8 seeds.

Habitat: Locally common. Openings in coastal sage scrub, chaparral, foothill woodland, burns

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1100 m

Bioregions: c&amps CW, SW

California counties: San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Marin

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