Has the characteristic leaves of lupine flowers, but with about 10 leaves per cluster, while the other lupines have more like 7 leaves per group. The plant is not hairy, and has a stalk with buds concentrated at the top that have yet to bloom.
Many lupine were growing in the inner meadow at the union bay natural area. Lupine are nitrogen fixers, so they are some of the first plants to grow in open areas after fires or other events that clear wide spaces. Right now, none of the purple flowers are present, I didn't even see any buds, but many of the leaves are growing in clumps among the grasses. The entire plant was quite fuzzy, each leaf plant consisting of 10-14 long leaflets. The number of leaflets is definitive of the species, most of the others have fewer, and smaller leaflets.
Many of the leaves held a large crystaline droplet of water in the center, perfectly caught between the upward sloping leaves. Why would a lupine want to trap water like this?
Lupinus polyphyllus (Large-leaved Lupine, Big-leaved Lupine, or, primarily in cultivation, Garden Lupin) is a species of lupine (lupin) native to western North America from southern Alaska and British Columbia east to Alberta and western Wyoming, and south to Utah and California. It commonly grows along streams and creeks, preferring moist habitats.
