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Coulter's Lupine
Lupinus sparsiflorus
  
4 Nurseries Carry This Plant

About Coulter's Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus) 4 Nurseries Carry This Plant Lupinus sparsiflorus, Coulter's lupine, is a species in the Fabaceae (Legume) family native to North America. In the United States it occurs in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, and in Mexico it is found in Baja California and Sonora. In California it is found from the coast to the dry inland mountains of the southern part of the state. Other common names include Mojave lupine, a name it shares with Lupinus odoratus. This is an annual herb growing 20 to 40 centimeters tall. Each palmate leaf is made up of 7 to 11 very narrow leaflets up to 3 centimeters long and just a few millimeters wide. The flower cluster is a fuzzy spiral of several flowers each around a centimeter long. The flower is blue or purple, becoming darker with age, with a white to pink patch on its banner. There is one reocognized subspecies, ssp. mohavensis, which is found only in the desert or semi-desert areas of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Annual Herb

Size
Size
0.7 - 1.3 ft tall
1 ft wide

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Fast

Flower Color
Flower Color
Blue, Purple

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Spring

Wildlife Supported
 
Various insects are attracted to the flowers. The lupinus genus is host plant to the Arrowhead Blue butterfly.

 
Butterflies & moths hosted ( 46 likely * ) SHOW ALL
*
Vanessa cardui Image
Painted Lady Vanessa carduiVanessa cardui
*
Strymon melinus Image
Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinusStrymon melinus
*
Icaricia acmon Image
Acmon Blue Icaricia acmonIcaricia acmon
*
Colias eurytheme Image
Orange Sulphur Colias eurythemeColias eurytheme
*
Glaucopsyche lygdamus Image
Silvery Blue Glaucopsyche lygdamusGlaucopsyche lygdamus
*
Glaucopsyche piasus Image
Arrowhead Blue Glaucopsyche piasusGlaucopsyche piasus
*
Plebejus melissa Image
Melissa Blue Plebejus melissaPlebejus melissa

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun

Moisture
Moisture
Low

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Max 2x / month once established

Nurseries
Nurseries
Carried by 4

Cold Tolerance
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to 15° F

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast

Soil Description
Soil Description
Typically sandy or decomposed granite. Soil PH: 6.0 - 8.2

Common uses
Common uses
Bird Gardens, Bee Gardens

Companion Plants
Companion Plants
Can be used with a wide variety of coastal and inland shrubs, perennials and annuals, such as Manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.), Ceanothus sp., Brittlebush (Encelia sp.), Poppy (Eschscholzia or Papaver sp.), Chaparral Yucca (Hesperoyucca whipplei), Chuparosa (Justicia californica), Mohave Yucca (Yucca shidigera), and various cactus species.

Propagation
Propagation?
For propagating by seed: Fresh seeds need no treatment. Stored seeds scarification or hot water.

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Washes, sandy places

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 2.7" - 39.4", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 2.93", Coldest Month: 35.2" - 60.6", Hottest Month: 62.4" - 89.6", Humidity: 1.35" - 40.40", Elevation: -193" - 6768"

Alternative Names
Common Names: Mojave Lupine


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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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