Stats

Lifespan: Annual
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Uncommon

About

Arroyo lupine is a showy annual wildflower native to California's coastal sage scrub and grasslands, bursting into dense spikes of deep violet-blue pea flowers each spring. Like all legumes, it fixes atmospheric nitrogen through root nodules, quietly enriching the soil it grows in.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Lupinus
Species: Lupinus succulentus