''Lupinus diffusus'' (Oak Ridge lupine, spreading lupine, or sky-blue lupine) is a species of
lupin
''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet etc., is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur ...
e native to the southeastern
United States, from
North Carolina south to
Florida and west to
Mississippi. It is restricted to very dry, sandy soils, often in open pine or oak woodlands.
It is a
perennial herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
plant growing to tall. The
leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
are palmately compound with 3-5 leaflets long and broad, gray-green to silvery green, covered with fine white hairs. The
flowers are pale blue or violet, produced in a dense spike long.
Cultivation
It is grown as an
ornamental plant in gardens for its flowers and silvery leaves, produced in early spring.
References and external links
USDA PLants Profile: ''Lupinus diffusus''*
Photos of ''Lupinus diffusus''
diffusus
Flora of the Southeastern United States
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Lupinus-stub