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Nevada Lupine
Scientific Name:
Lupinus nevadensis
Type:
Herbaceous Plant
Habitat:
Sagebrush-dominated shrub communities or pinyon-juniper woodland
Range:
Western Great Basin in Nevada, California, and Oregon
Status:
No listest status
This species is
NATIVE
to the Truckee Meadows.
Identification:
Nevada lupines are wildflowers that grow 5 to 15 inches tall with flowers that cluster to create a long spiral that narrows at the tip. The flowers are generally purple-blue with a white patch in the middle. Leaves are hairy and palmate, meaning they have many (6 to 10) leaflets that radiate from the center.
Fast Facts:
There are hundreds of species of lupines across the world.
Nevada lupines are in the pea family and have fruit similar to pea pods.
Several lupine species can be toxic if ingested.
Here in the Truckee Meadows, Nevada lupines can be found at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park and near the East Keystone Trailhead.
Lupines are nitrogen-fixing plants.
Sources:
California Native Plant Society, Nevada lupine, 2010, https://calscape.org/Lupinus-nevadensis-(Nevada-Lupine)?srchcr=sc5b6b1e5aef02a
The Jepson Herbarium - UC Berkeley, Lupinus nevadensis, 2020, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=31981
USDA Agricultural Research Center, Toxic Plant Research Lupine Species, 2018, https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/poisonous-plant-research/docs/lupine-lupinus-spp/
Britannica Encyclopedia, Lupine, 2016, https://www.britannica.com/plant/lupine
Image: Steve Matson, https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0710+0587, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/, cropped from original.
Image: Gary Monroe, https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0412+0760, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/, cropped from original.
Contributor(s):
Tessa Putz (research & content)
Alex Shahbazi (edits & page design)