''Lupinus littoralis'' is a species of lupine known by the common name seashore lupine. It is native to the coastline of western North America from British Columbia to northern California, where it grows in sandy habitat. It is a low perennial herb or

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

growing in a clump or mat no more than tall. Each palmate leaf is divided into 5 to 9 leaflets up to long. The herbage is coated in long, shaggy whitish or silvery hairs. The inflorescence is

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

of whorled flowers each around a centimeter long. The flower is purple in color with a white patch on its banner that fades pinkish. The fruit is a hairy

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

pod 3 or 4 centimeters long containing up to 12 seeds. Some Native American tribes ate the roots.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment
littoralis Flora of British Columbia Flora of the West Coast of the United States Plants described in 1828 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Lupinus-stub