Herbs, perennial, 2–7 dm, green or gray-silky. Cotyledons deciduous, petiolate. Stems erect, ascending, or decumbent, branched. Leaves cauline and basal; stipules 4–9 mm; petiole 2–16 cm; leaflets 7–10(–13), blades 20–70 × 3–15 mm, adaxial surface strigose. Peduncles 2–5 cm; bracts deciduous, 3–6 mm. Racemes open, 3–18 cm; flowers whorled. Pedicels 1–7 mm. Flowers 8–14 mm; calyx spur distinct, 1–3 mm, abaxial lobe 3-toothed, 2.5–5 mm, 1–3 mm, adaxial lobe 2-toothed, 2–4 mm; corolla blue, purple, pink, white, or yellowish, banner patch white, yellowish, or absent, banner hairy abaxially, wings with dense hair patch outside near tip, lower keel margins glabrous, adaxial margin ciliate. Legumes 2–3 cm, silky. Seeds 3–6, tan, 5–6 mm.

Phenology: Flowering May–Jul.
Habitat: Open sagebrush scrub or mixed-conifer forests.
Elevation: 1500–3000 m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Loading map...

B.C., Calif., Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Utah, Wash.

Discussion

Lupinus arbustus is known from the Cascade and Klamath ranges, San Gabriel Mountains, Sierra Nevada, and the Great Basin area in California; Owyhee Desert in Idaho and Oregon; eastern Washington and western Montana; and western Juab and Tooele counties, Utah.

Lupinus arbustus is separated from the argenteus group by the presence of hairs on the corolla wings. Recognition of subspecies and varieties of this already complex species leads to precarious separation among taxa.

Lupinus variegatus A. Heller (1912, not Poiret 1814) is an illegitimate name that pertains here.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.