Carried by 5 nurseries
View Availability at NurseryData 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.
Perennial herb
4 - 60 in Tall
Upright
Fast
Blue, Purple
Summer, Fall
Full Sun, Partial Shade
Moderate
Adaptable, tolerant of sand, loam and clay.
For propagating by seed: Fresh seeds need no treatment. Stored seeds scarification or hot water.
Bristlecone Pine Forest, Northern Juniper Woodland, Sagebrush Scrub, Yellow Pine Forest
Butterflies and moths supported
4 confirmed and 37 likely
Duskywing
Erynnis afranius
Silvery Blue
Glaucopsyche lygdamus
Melissa Blue
Plebejus melissa
Gray Hairstreak
Strymon melinus