Legumes: Lupines and Deervetch of Mount Diablo

Lupinus albifrons, Silver lupine, white-leaf bush lupine, or evergreen lupine, is a species of lupine (lupin). It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows along the coast and in dry and open meadows, prairies and forest clearings. It is a member of several plant communities, including coastal sage scrub, chaparral, northern coastal scrub, foothill woodland, and yellow pine forest. less ↑

Lupinus bicolor is a species of lupine known as the miniature lupine, Lindley's annual lupine, or bicolor lupine. It is a showy flowering plant native to western North America from California to British Columbia. It is an annual lupine which often shares a habitat with the California poppy. It has a short, hairy stem and thin, palmately-arranged leaves. The inflorescence is short for a lupine at up to 8 centimeters tall. As its name suggests the... less ↑

More info for the terms: caudex, forb, strigose

This description provides characteristics that may be relevant to fire ecology, and is not meant for identification. Keys for identification are available [11,38,46,47,50,59,60,80].

Broadleaf lupine is a native perennial forb. It has a bushy, densely branched growth habit originating from a woody caudex and an extensive root system [39]. Plant heights range from 1 to 4 feet (0.3-1.2 m) on erect stems that are subglabrous to minutely strigose [59,60,80]. The leaves are palmately compound with 5 to 10 leaflets. The leaflets are elliptic to lance-shaped, 1 to 3 inches (2.5-7.6 cm) long, glabrous above, and minutely strigose beneath. The inflorescence is a showy raceme from 4 to12 inches (10-30 cm) long with numerous whorled or scattered pea-like flowers. The fruit is a legume that is 0.8 to 1.8 inches (2-4.5 cm) long and densely hairy. The legume pod contains 6 to 10 dark brown seeds [11,38,45,53,59,80].

Physiology: Broadleaf lupine is a nitrogen-fixing legume [17,61]. Seventeen years after thinning on a coast Douglas-fir site, broadleaf lupine was 1 of 2 species that accounted for only 1% of understory biomass, yet contributed 1/3rd of the nitrogen annually cycled [57]. less ↑

Annual, Herbs, Taproot present, Nodules present, Stems erect or ascending, Stems less than 1 m tall, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs sparsely to densely hairy, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules setiform, subulate or acicular, Stipules persistent, Stipules adnate to petiole, Leaves compound, Leaves palmately 5-11 foliate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets 5-9, Leaves hairy on one or both surfaces, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence terminal, Bracts conspicuously present, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Bracteoles present, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx 2-lipped or 2-lobed, Calyx hairy, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals clawed, Petals blue, lavander to purple, or violet, Banner petal ovoid or obovate, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel petals auriculate, spurred, or gibbous, Stamens 9-10, Stamens or anthers dimorphic, alternating large and small, Stamens monadelphous, united below, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit elongate, straight, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit internally septate between the seeds, Fruit hairy, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or bla ck, Seed surface mottled or patchy. less ↑