Velvet lupine is a robust, erect perennial herb from western North America, growing up to about 90 cm tall with woolly, silvery foliage and dense spikes of purple flowers. It is a wildflower of mountain, prairie and plateau habitats rather than a common garden plant, and it thrives in full sun and well-drained soil.
Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly once established; it tolerates dry conditions well.
Soil
Well-drained, sandy or gravelly soil; tolerates poor, lean soil.
Temperature
Hardy in cold winters; protect young plants from prolonged waterlogging.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Toxic: Contains toxic alkaloids such as lupinine and anagyrine; the plant is poisonous if eaten.
Native range
W. Canada to W. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate
About
Lupinus leucophyllus is a species of lupine known by the common name velvet lupine. It is native to western North America, where it grows in many types of mountain, prairie, and plateau habitat. It is a robust, branching, erect perennial herb growing up to 90 centimetres (35 in) tall. Each palmate leaf is divided into 7 to 11 leaflets up to 7 centimetres (2.8 in) long. The herbage is coated in white woolly fibers and stiff hairs. The inflorescence is dense raceme of many flowers, each around a centimeter long. The flower is purple in color, fading brown, the patch on the banner petal yellow or brownish. The pointed sepals and the back of the banner are hairy to woolly in texture.
This is one of several poisonous lupines that are dangerous to grazing livestock. The plant contains toxic alkaloids including lupinine and the teratogenic anagyrine.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lupinus leucophyllus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.