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Royal Lupine
Lupinus odoratus
  
1 Nurseries Carry This Plant

About Royal Lupine (Lupinus odoratus) 1 Nurseries Carry This Plant Lupinus odoratus is a species in the Fabaceae (Legume) family known by the common names Royal Lupine or Mojave Lupine. It is native to the Mojave Desert and adjacent western Great Basin in the United States, where it grows in sandy or gravelly soils in open habitat. It is an annual herb growing 10 to 30 centimeters tall. Each palmate leaf is made up of 7 to 9 green leaflets up to 2 centimeters long. The herbage is generally hairless except for new growth. The flower cluster is an upright spiral of many flowers each up to a centimeter long. The flowers are royal purple-blue in color with a white spot on their banners, and have a scent similar to that of violets. The fruit is a thin legume pod up to 2 centimeters in length.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Annual Herb

Size
Size
0.33 - 1 ft tall
1 ft wide

Fragrance
Fragrance
Fragrant - Pleasant

Flower Color
Flower Color
Purple

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Spring

Wildlife Supported
 
Numerous insects are attracted to the flowers. Lupines generally are host plant to the Arrowhead Blue butterfly

 
Butterflies & moths hosted ( 27 likely * ) SHOW ALL
*
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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
Very Low

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Max 1x / month once established

Nurseries
Nurseries
Carried by 1

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast

Soil Description
Soil Description
Sandy, gravelly, rocky

Common uses
Common uses
Bird Gardens, Bee Gardens

Companion Plants
Companion Plants
Use with other highe Desert plants such as Utah Agave (Agave utahensis), Bigberry Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca), Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), Desert Ceanothus (Ceanothus greggii), Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa), California Juniper (Juniperus californica), Penstemon sp., Bladderpod (Peritoma arborea), Antelope Brush (Purshia stansburyana), Desert Sage (Salvia dorrii), Mojave Sage (Salvia mohavensis), Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis), and various cactus species. Also can be used with various other Desert annuals or herbaceous perennials.

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

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Sandy flats, open places in higher elevation desert

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 1.9" - 13.7", Summer Precipitation: 0.21" - 2.26", Coldest Month: 34.7" - 61.5", Hottest Month: 65.9" - 90.6", Humidity: 3.14" - 49.69", Elevation: -230" - 5863"

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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