''Lupinus spectabilis'' 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 known by the common name shaggyhair lupine. It is

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 a section of the central

Sierra Nevada foothills :''See Sierra Nevada for general information about the mountain range in the United States.'' The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant ...

in Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties, where it is a member of the

serpentine soil Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially anti ...

s flora.

Description

''Lupinus spectabilis'' is a hairy annual herb growing 20 to 60 centimeters tall. Each palmate leaf is made up of usually 9 leaflets measuring 1 to 4 centimeters in length. 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 ...

bears whorls of flowers each just over a centimeter in length. The flower is usually blue with a white patch on its banner, but all-white flowers have been noted. The fruit is a very 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 up to 5 centimeters long.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Lupinus spectabilis''''Lupinus spectabilis'' - Photo gallery
spectabilis Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of Mariposa County, California Natural history of Tuolumne County, California {{Lupinus-stub