Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Order: Fabales

Family: Fabaceae -- pea

Common Name: velvet lupine

Species Code: LULE3

Origin: Native to open, dry places from shrub-steppe to open pine forests of western North America from interior British Columbia south to northern California and east to Colorado and Montana.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial from a branched crown; stems several, 30-70 cm tall, simple to freely branched, erect, grayish to rust colored due to the dense and varied pubescence.

Mature height: 12-28 inches

Duration: perennial

Longevity: short

Habitat Type: prairie, shrub thickets, forest

Wetland Indicator Status: not listed

Leaves: mostly cauline, alternate, long petiolate, palmately compound with 7-10 leaflets; leaflets oblanceolate to oblong, acute tipped, 3-5 cm long, silky or sericeous-pilose on both surfaces.

Flowers: papilionaceous; perfect; borne in a terminal raceme in indistinct whorls on short peduncles, closely crowded, raceme 8-30 cm long; flowers mostly 8-12 mm long, from nearly white to purple; calyx pubescent to silky, 2-lipped, the upper lip 3–6 mm long with 2 teeth, the lower lip 3-8 mm long, entire; banner slightly reflexed, pubescent over much of back; wings glabrous or sparsely hairy, keel usually ciliate.

Flower color: blue/purple

Bloom: June, July

Bloom starts on: mid June

Bloom ends on: mid July

Fruit: pods 1.5-2.5 cm long, 7-8 mm wide, shaggy with rusty hairs; seeds 3-6, smooth, pinkish-brown or grayish brown.

Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
As a genus, Lupinus is highly variable and plastic. This is further complicated by interbreeding, resulting in a highly confusing taxonomy, a large number of infraspecific taxa, and a long list of synonyms.
n=24, 48 (Hitchcock et al 1969, Baldwin et al 2004).
Diploids and tetraploids are known.
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a legume.
Seeds are ejected explosively when the pods dehisce.
L. leucophyllus is a highly valuable forage for Rocky Mountain elk in summer (Kufeld 1973).
Lupines contain poisonous alkaloids in varying amounts depending on species, plant part, maturity, and possibly ecotype. Seeds and fruits have the highest concentrations. L. leucophyllus is one of the more toxic species.
Lupinus species are hosts for the larva of the persius duskywing (Erynnis persius), the arrowhead blue (Glaucopsyche piasis), the acmon blue (Icaricia acmon), Boisduval's blue (Icaricia icarioides ssp. pembina), and the silvery blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) butterflies (Pocewicz 2005).

Sun requirement: full sun

Soil moisture: xeric

Fire: Lupines resist fire by having deep taproots and the ability to form new shoots from the taproot. The new shoots will produce seed the year following a fire (McLean 1969).

Hazards: Contains alkaloids which are toxic to livestock.

Sowing time: Unscarified seed should be fall sown. Scarified seed can be spring sown.

Transplant time: spring

Pretreatment: seed should be scarified

Seed yield: medium

Seed harvest: difficult

Seed first harvest: first season

Seed cleaning: easy

Planting duration: short

Seed insect problem: yes

Seed shatter: high

Seed size: large

Seed harvest date: mid-July

Seed comments: flowering and seed set are indeterminate, seed shatters readily

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Key words: native perennial upland forb

Propagation:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
Pullman WA Plant Materials Center

Notes: Lupinus leucophyllus grows readily from scarified seed. It also reseeds itself well. Individual plants are short-lived. Seeds shatter forcefully and new plants will pop up around the garden. Blooms in June, slightly earlier than L. sericeus (Skinner et al 2005).

References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 11/18/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html

Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.

Kufeld, Roland. 1973. Foods Eaten by the Rocky Mountain Elk. Journal of Range Management 26:106-113.

McLean, Alastair. 1969. Fire Resistance of Forest Species as Influenced by Root Systems. Journal of Range Management 22:120-122.

Pocewicz, Amy. 2005. Host Plants of Palouse Butterfly Species. 2 page handout to accompany the April 2005 presentation to the Palouse Prairie Foundation.

Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. Characteristics and Uses of Native Palouse Forbs in Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium