Herbs, rarely shrubs, with alternate digitately-compound 7-15-foliolate (rarely simple or 3-5-foliolate) leaves, and showy flowers in terminal spikes or racemes. Calyx deeply toothed and 2-lipped. Standard orbicular or ovate, its margins reflexed; wings oblong or obovate; keel incurved, sometimes beaked. Stamens monadelphous, their sheath not cleft; anthers of two forms as in Crotalaria. Ovary sessile; style incurved. Pod flattened, generally constricted between the seeds, the valves coriaceous. [Latin name of some pulse, from lupus, wolf.]

Over 100 species, mainly natives of temperate and warm regions. About 70 occur in North America, mainly on the western side of the continent. Type species: Lupinus albus L.

1. Lupinus Perénnis L. Wild Or Perennial Lupine. Wild Pea

Fig. 2461

Lupinus perennis L. Sp. Pl. 721. 1753. Lupinus perennis occidcntalis S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 530. 1873.

Perennial, erect, more or less pubescent, sometimes villous, branched, 1°-2° high. Leaves slender-petioled, 2'-3' broad, leaflets 7-11 (commonly about 8), oblan-ceolate, sessile or nearly so, obtuse and mucronate at the apex, 1'-1 1/2' long, 3"-6" wide, appressed-pubescent or glabrate; raceme terminal, peduncled, 6'-10' long, rather loosely flowered; pedicels 3"-6" long; flowers blue, sometimes pink, or white, 6"-8" long; pod linear-oblong, very pubescent, 11/2' long, 4" wide, usually 4-6-seeded, the valves coiling at dehiscence; style subulate.

In dry, sandy soil, Maine and Ontario to Minnesota, Florida, Missouri and Louisiana. Old maid's- or Quaker-bonnets. Sun-dial. May-June.

2. Lupinus Platténsis S. Wats. Nebraska Lupine

Fig. 2462

Lupinus omatus var. glabratus S. Wats.

Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 528. 1873. Not L.

glabratus Agardh. 1835. Lupinus plattensis S. Wats. Proc. Am.

Acad. 17: 369. 1882.

Resembling the preceding species, perennial, 1°- 1 1/2° high, branching, villous or appressed-pubescent, the living plant with a glaucous appearance; leaflets 7-10, oblanceolate, spatulate or narrowly oval,1'-1 1/2' long, 3"-5" wide; raceme terminal, 4's' long, loosely flowered; pedicels 3"-5" long; corolla blue, 6"-8" long, the standard with a conspicuous dark spot.

Plains, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado. Recorded from Dakota. June-July.

3. Lupinus Decúmbens Torr. Silvery Lupine

Fig. 2463

Lupinus decumbens Torr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. 2: 191. 1826.

Perennial, rather shrubby, bushy-branched, 1°-2° high, finely and densely silky-pubescent with appressed hairs, the leaves becoming glabrous on the upper side. Petioles slender, equalling or the lower exceeding the leaves; stipules minute, subulate; leaflets sessile, linear-oblong, acute or obtusish at the apex, narrowed at the base, 9"-18" long, 2"-4" wide; racemes terminal, rather dense, 2'-8' long; pedicels 2" - 3" long; flowers purple, 4"-6" long; pod silky-pubescent, about 1' long, mostly 3-5-seeded.

Prairies, western Nebraska and South Dakota to Montana, Oregon and California. In our first edition included in L. argenteus Pursh, which ranges from Montana to Colorado. July-Aug.

Lupinus argophyllus (A. Gray) Cockerell, of Colorado and New Mexico, differing in having leaves permanently pubescent above, is recorded from Nebraska.

4. Lupinus Pusillus Pursh. Low Lupine

Fig. 2464

Lupinus pusillus Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 468. 1814.

Annual (always?), villous-pubescent, 4'-8' high, from a deep root, much branched near the base. Leaves petioled, 1'-2' wide; leaflets 5-7 (commonly 5), oblong or oblanceolate, narrowed at the base, obtuse or acute at the apex, glabrous or nearly so on the upper surface, pubescent with long scattered hairs beneath, 3"-4" wide; racemes numerous, short-peduncled or sessile, 1'-3' long, densely few-flowered; pedicels 1"-2" long; flowers blue, 3"-4" long; pod oblong, very pubescent, 6"-8" long, 2"-3' broad, about 2-seeded; style subulate.

Dry plains, South Dakota to Nebraska, Kansas, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and New Mexico. March-July.