Lupinus truncatus  Hook. & Arn.   Fabaceae (Pea Family)   Native   Slender Lupine                             Collar Lupine

                                      March Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Subglabrous to sparsely strigulose annual, branched, 3-7 dm. tall, rather deep green, petioles mostly 5-10 cm. long, +/- flattened; lfts. 5-7, linear, truncate, to emarginate or toothed, 1-4 cm. long; peduncles 3-10 cm. long; racemes 5-15 cm. long; pedicels 2-3 mm. long; bracts subulate, 3-4 mm. long, rather persistent; fls. not crowded, 10-12 mm. long, mostly purplish-blue, redder in age; calyx 5-6 mm. long; the upper lip cleft, the lower entire to 3 toothed; banner ca. 10 mm. long, 9 mm. wide, keel +/- ciliate on lower edge toward claws, more so on upper; pods ca. 3 cm. long, 6 mm. wide, villous, 6-7 ovuled; seeds ca. 3 mm. long rhomboid, plump, +/- plainly mottled with brown on a pale flesh-color background.

Habitat:  Open grassy places, burns, etc.; Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, n. L. Calif. to Monterey Co., Channel Ids.  Mar.-May.  Below 1000 meters

Name:  Latin, from lupus, a wolf, because of an old idea that lupines rob the soil.  (Munz, Calif. Flora 804).  Latin, truncatus, cut off.  (Jaeger 272).  The species name refers to the truncate leaflets.

General:  Uncommon in the study area.  Photographed on the Castaway's Bluffs and the burn area below Eastbluff.  (my comments).      There are 62 species of lupine listed in Manual of the Flowering Plants of California by Jepson.      Lupines are fine nitrifying plants, enriching soils in nitrates for other plants that lack this ability.  (John Johnson).      Some but not all species of lupine hold toxic alkaloids throughout the entire plant and are a common cause of stock poisoning.  L. caudatus is particularly toxic to cattle.  The greatest amount of poison is retained in the fully ripened seeds and pods.  Not all poisonous lupines produce the same effects due to the varying amounts of toxic alkaloids.  Generally, within an hour after consuming the toxic parts, breathing becomes difficult and heavy.  The body will begin to twitch; convulsions and unconsciousness may follow.  (James 45).      The larvae of the Painted Lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, feed on mallow, lupine, thistle and nettle. (No author, sbnature, A Journal of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Spring 2004/Vol. 2, No. 1, 6-8).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 636; Munz, Calif. Flora 813; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 463; Roberts 24.

Photo Ref:  Mar 1 85 # 24A; Mar 5-April 1 85 # 5; Jan-Mar 97 # 21A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.

First Found:  March 1985.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 78.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 10/14/04.  

                          March Photo                                              March Photo