''Lupinus latifolius'' is a species of

lupin ''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet, is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centres of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centres occur in No ...

e known by the common name broadleaf lupine. It is native to western North America from

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, where it is common and can be found in several types of habitat. There are several subtaxa, described as subspecies or varieties, some common and some rare. They vary in morphology. In general this plant is an erect perennial herb. It grows 30 centimeters to over two meters in height, in texture hairy to nearly hairless. Each palmate leaf is made up of several leaflets, those on larger plants up to 10 centimeters long. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

bears many flowers, sometimes in whorls. Each flower is one to two centimeters in length, purple to blue to white in color, the spot on its banner yellowish, pinkish, or white. One rare subtaxon, ''Lupinus latifolius'' var. ''barbatus'', is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Modoc Plateau __NOTOC__ The Modoc Plateau lies in the northeast corner of California as well as parts of Oregon and Nevada. Nearly of the Modoc National Forest are on the plateau between the Medicine Lake Highlands in the west and the Warner Mountains in the ...

of northeastern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and adjacent territory in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. The subtaxon ''dudleyi'' is known only from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. It is a larval host to Boisduval's blue, clouded sulphur, orange sulphur,

Persius duskywing ''Erynnis persius'', commonly known as Persius duskywing, is a species of butterfly in the family Hesperiidae that occurs in North America. The eastern subspecies ''Erynnis persius persius'' is rarer and protected by law in some regions. Descrip ...

, and

silvery blue ''Glaucopsyche lygdamus'', the silvery blue, is a small butterfly native to North America. Description Its upperside is a light blue in males and a dull grayish blue in females. The underside is gray with a single row of round spots of diffe ...

butterflies.The Xerces Society (2016), ''Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects'', Timber Press.

References

External links

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Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
latifolius Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Western Canada Flora of California Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Lupinus-stub