''Lupinus bicolor'' is a species of lupine known as the miniature lupine, Lindley's annual lupine, pigmy-leaved lupine, or bicolor lupine.Jepson: ''Lupinus bicolor''
/ref> It is a showy flowering annual or perennial plant native to western North America, from northwestern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, throughout

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and north to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. It is found in diverse habitats below , including: grasslands;

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

; oak, mixed conifer and Joshua tree woodlands;

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is w ...

; and open conifer forests. It often shares habitats with other prolifically blooming spring and early summer wildflowers, including the

California poppy ''Eschscholzia californica'', the California poppy, golden poppy, California sunlight or cup of gold, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant f ...

.Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, NPIN−Native Plant Information Network: ''Lupinus bicolor''
/ref>

Description

''Lupinus bicolor'' has a short, hairy stem and thin, palmately-arranged leaves. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is short for a lupine, at up to tall. As its name suggests the flowers are usually two colors, with one often a deep blue. The other color is often white and sometimes a light purple or magenta. There are sometimes small speckles or spots on the petals. The plant's hairy pods are quite small, only a couple of centimeters long and very thin, and they contain tiny brownish peas.

Varieties

This plant can be variable in appearance, and there are several varieties/subspecies whose relationships are as yet unclear.

Varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

include: *''Lupinus bicolor'' var. ''rostratus'' —

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to California. *''Lupinus bicolor'' var. ''tridentatus'' — endemic to California. *''Lupinus bicolor'' var. ''trifidus'' — endemic to California. *''Lupinus bicolor'' var. ''umbellatus'' — endemic to California.

Cultivation

''Lupinus bicolor'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

, from seed sown in

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

drought tolerant Drought tolerance is the ability to which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tolerance, detox ...

, and

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibians, rep ...

s, and in

natural landscaping Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants and adapted species, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden. Benefits Maintenance Natural landsc ...

and

habitat restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

projects. The plants are of value to pollinators, including native bees and

bumble bee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

s. At a local spatial scale, ''Lupinus bicolor'' was found to increase the abundance of the native Yellow-faced bumble bee (''Bombus vosnesenskii'') at restoration sites in Santa Barbara, CA.

References

External links

*
Calflora Database: ''Lupinus bicolor'' (Bicolored lupine, miniature lupine)USDA Plants Profile for ''Lupinus bicolor''Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Lupinus bicolor''UC Photos gallery — ''Lupinus bicolor''
{{- bicolor Flora of British Columbia Flora of Baja California Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) 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 Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status