The Lupines are showy Leguminous plants, all perfectly hardy and easily grown in any ordinary garden soil. They are very ornamental in leaf and blossom, and a fair trade is done in spring in plants of the perennial L. polypityllus and of seed-raised plants of the annual L. mutabilis. The latter is a fine Colombian annual, 3-4 ft. high, with tall spikes of Pea-like flowers from June to August, the colours being blue, white, rose, purple, etc, according to variety. L. poly-phyllus (fig. 221), 3-6 ft. high, having blue, white, and blue-and-white varieties, is the best of the perennials, but there are others. L. nanus, 1 ft. or more, is a dwarf annual, having blue-and-lilac, white, and white-and-rose varieties; L. tricolor elegans (or Dun-netti) is another annual with deep-violet and white flowers. There are about eighty other species, but most of them of no great value commercially.

Fig. 221. - Lupinus polyphyllus.