Lupine

Description:

Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins or lupines (North America), is a genus in the legume family (Fabaceae). The genus comprises between 200 and 600 species, with major centers of diversity in South and western North America (subgen.Platycarpos (Wats.) Kurl.), and in the Mediterranean region and Africa (Subgen.Lupinus). The species are mostly herbaceous perennial plants 0.3-1.5 m (1–5 ft) tall, but some are annual plants and a few are shrubs up to 3 m (10 ft) tall - see also bush lupin -, with one species (Lupinus jaimehintoniana, from the Mexican state of Oaxaca) a tree up to 8 m high with a trunk 20 cm (8 in) in diameter. They have a characteristic and easily recognised leaf shape, with soft green to grey-green leaves which in many species bear silvery hairs, often densely so. The leaf blades are usually palmately divided into 5–28 leaflets or reduced to a single leaflet in a few species of the southeastern United States. The flowers are produced in dense or open whorls on an erect spike, each flower 1–2 cm long, with a typical peaflower shape with an upper 'standard' or 'banner', two lateral 'wings' and two lower petals fused as a 'keel'. Due to the flower shape, several species are known as bluebonnets or quaker bonnets. The fruit is a pod containing several seeds.