''Lupinus sericeus'' is a species of flowering plant in the

legume family The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

known by the common name silky lupine or Pursh's silky lupine. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Arizona and east to Alberta and Colorado. This perennial herb produces erect stems from a woody

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

and deep root system. The stems reach up to tall and may branch or not. They are coated in silvery or reddish hairs. The leaves have up to 9 lance-shaped leaflets each up to in length. They are coated in silky hairs. The inflorescence is a

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 many flowers, usually in shades of purple or blue, but sometimes white or yellowish. The back side of the banner petal is hairy. 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 up to long containing up to 7 seeds.Matthews, Robin F. (1993
''Lupinus sericeus''.
In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Retrieved 11-29-2011.''Lupinus sericeus''.
Washington Burke Museum. Retrieved 11-29-2011. This plant grows in many types of habitat, including forests, woodlands,

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 ...

, shrubsteppe, sagebrush, and grasslands. It often grows on dry, rocky slopes, and does best in open sites without shade. It can be found at low and high elevations, up to or more. It can often be found in recently

burned Burned or burnt may refer to: * Anything which has undergone combustion * Burned (image), quality of an image transformed with loss of detail in all portions lighter than some limit, and/or those darker than some limit * ''Burnt'' (film), a 2015 ...

sites. Plants associated with it include Gambel oak (''Quercus gambelii''),

common snowberry ''Symphoricarpos albus'' is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common name common snowberry. Native to North America, it is browsed by some animals and planted for ornamental and ecological purposes, but is poison ...

(''Symphoricarpos albus''),

ninebark ''Physocarpus'', commonly called ninebark, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to North America (most species) and northeastern Asia (one species). Description ''Physocarpus'' are deciduous shrubs with peeling bark

(''Physocarpus malvaceus''),

serviceberry ''Amelanchier'' ( ), also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry (or just sarvis), juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear,A Digital Flora of Newfoundland and Labrador Vascular Plants/ref> is a g ...

(''Amelanchier'' spp.),

mountain-mahogany ''Cercocarpus'', commonly known as mountain mahogany, is a small genus of at least nine species of Frankia, nitrogen-fixing flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native to the western United States and northern Mexico, where th ...

(''Cercocarpus'' spp.),

arrowleaf balsamroot ''Balsamorhiza sagittata'' is a North American species of flowering plant in the tribe Heliantheae of the family Asteraceae known by the common name Arrowleaf Balsamroot. It is widespread across western Canada and much of the western United Stat ...

(''Balsamorhiza sagittata''), western yarrow (''Achillea millefolium''),

heartleaf arnica ''Arnica cordifolia'' is a species of arnica in the sunflower family, known by the common name heartleaf arnica. It is native to western North America. Description This is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing one or more erect stems reaching ...

(''Arnica cordifolia''), bluebunch wheatgrass (''Pseudoroegneria spicata''), Sandberg bluegrass (''Poa secunda''),

fescue ''Festuca'' (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on every ...

s (''Festuca idahoensis'' and ''F. scabrella''),

prairie junegrass ''Koeleria macrantha'' is a species of grass known by the common name prairie Junegrass in North America and crested hair-grass in the UK. It is widespread across much of Eurasia and North America. It occurs in many habitat types, especially prai ...

(''Koeleria cristata''), and sedges (''Carex'' spp.). Like many other

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 ...

es, this species is very toxic to sheep, and less so to cattle and horses. It contains

teratogenic Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development in organisms during their life span. It is a sub-discipline in medical genetics which focuses on the classification of congenital abnormalities in dysmorphology. The related t ...

chemical compounds that may cause birth defects in a

calf Calf most often refers to: * Calf (animal), the young of domestic cattle. * Calf (leg), in humans (and other primates), the back portion of the lower leg Calf or calves may also refer to: Biology and animal byproducts * Veal, meat from calves * ...

if the plant is eaten by its mother during the early part of the

gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregna ...

period. Its toxicity is caused by a concentration of quinolizidine alkaloids. It does not appear to be toxic to wild animals such as

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

, which often consume it. Bighorn sheep feed on it in Montana and Columbia ground squirrels feed on the leaves and flowers. Many other small mammals and birds also eat parts of it.

References

External links

The Nature Conservancy
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6704790 sericeus Flora of the Western United States Flora of Western Canada