Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fabales > Fabaceae > Lupinus > Lupinus littoralis

Lupinus littoralis (seashore lupine)

Synonyms: Lupinus franciscanus; Lupinus nutkatensis

Wikipedia Abstract

Lupinus littoralis is a species of lupine known by the common name seashore lupine. It is native to the coastline of western North America from British Columbia to northern California, where it grows in sandy habitat. It is a low perennial herb or subshrub growing in a clump or mat no more than 30 centimetres (12 in) tall. Each palmate leaf is divided into 5 to 9 leaflets up to 3.5 centimetres (1.4 in) long. The herbage is coated in long, shaggy whitish or silvery hairs. The inflorescence is raceme of whorled flowers each around a centimeter long. The flower is purple in color with a white patch on its banner that fades pinkish. The fruit is a hairy legume pod 3 or 4 centimeters long containing up to 12 seeds.
View Wikipedia Record: Lupinus littoralis

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [2]  The seed of many lupin species contain bitter-tasting toxic alkaloids, though there are often sweet varieties within that species that are completely wholesome; Taste is a very clear indicator. These toxic alkaloids can be leeched out of the seed by soaking it overnight and discarding the soak water. It may also be necessary to change the water once during cooking. Fungal toxins also readily invade the crushed seed and can cause chronic illness;
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [2]  Bees
Structure [3]  Shrub
Usage [2]  A good green manure plant for poor soils; It is quite fast growing and fixes atmospheric nitrogen.
Height [2]  18 inches (0.45 m)
Width [2]  20 inches (0.5 m)
View Plants For A Future Record : Lupinus littoralis

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve II 366714 British Columbia, Canada
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve II 137900 British Columbia, Canada
San Juan Island National Historical Park III 1674 Washington, United States

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
3USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0