Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Lupinus argenteus is a species of lupine known by the common name silvery lupine. It is native to much of western North America from the southwestern Canadian provinces to the southwestern and midwestern United States, where it grows in several types of habitat, including sagebrush, grassland, and forests. This is a perennial herb growing erect to heights anywhere between 10 centimeters and 1.5 meters. It is sometimes silvery-hairy in texture and sometimes nearly hairless. Each palmate leaf is made up of 5 to 9 leaflets each up to 6 centimeters long. They are narrow and linear in shape, under a centimeter wide. The flower cluster bears many flowers, sometimes arranged in whorls. The flower is 5 to 14 millimeters long and purple, blue, or whitish in color. The banner, or upper petal, of the flower may have a patch of white or yellow. The fruit is a hairy legume pod up to 3 centimeters long containing several beanlike seeds.

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

4 - 60 in Tall

Form

Upright

Growth rate

Fast

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Color

Blue, Purple

Flowering season

Summer, Fall

Sun

Full Sun, Partial Shade

Water

Moderate

Soil description

Adaptable, tolerant of sand, loam and clay.

Propagation

For propagating by seed: Fresh seeds need no treatment. Stored seeds scarification or hot water.

Plant communities

Bristlecone Pine Forest, Northern Juniper Woodland, Sagebrush Scrub, Yellow Pine Forest

Bats
Birds
Bees
Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

4 confirmed and 37 likely

Confirmed Likely

Duskywing

Erynnis afranius

Silvery Blue

Glaucopsyche lygdamus

Melissa Blue

Plebejus melissa

Gray Hairstreak

Strymon melinus