End of Summer Lupines

Here it is, the last day of September. We're already more than a week into autumn. How is that possible? Where does the time get to? And more importantly, how can there be more lupines to write about?

In California, evidently, anything's possible, perhaps doubly so in the Sierra Nevadas.

I've been treated to a protracted season of wildflowers in 2003, with Arroyo, Stinging, and Collar Lupine blooming early in the year/late winter. More and more species joined the blossom carnival as the season(s) progressed, from the desert into the mountains and along the coast. Every time I think I've seen the last of the lupines, something new rears its ugly head. Over the past couple months they've all been in the Sierra Nevadas. While you'll have to wait until next August to learn of some of them, a few are still blooming now, and I can dwell on those.

The most ubiquitous is Brewer's Lupine (Lupinus breweri), which lured me to California in the first place back in 2001. (See Treasure of the Sierra Nevada.) It was very common up in Soda Springs, near Donner Summit. This year I found it as far south as southern Inyo County, above the Kern River Valley, and most recently scattered among the Lemmon's Paintbrush along Tioga Pass. It is a matted, mostly prostrate plant, rarely exceeding more than 7 or 8" in height. Its leaflets are covered with white, silky hairs. It's common in dry openings.

While Brewer's Lupine seems easy enough to identify, and it is, there are at least three variants; L. breweri var breweri, L. breweri var bryoides, and L. breweri var grandiflorus. The differences are not immediately obvious.

Conversely, Broad-leaved Lupine (L. latifolius), another common species, is nearly a bush, growing three to four feet tall. Its broad leaflets are rounded, and it grows in moist mountain woods and meadows. Were it not for those leaflets, it would be easy to confuse with Large-leaved or Blue-pod Lupine (L. polyphyllus ), which grows four to five feet tall and can also be found in moist woods meadows. Its leaflets, also large and broad, have pointed tips.

Both of these large lupines are a sight to behold. Imagine not only Broad-leaved Lupine, but a wet meadow of it, Tower Larkspur, Arrowleaf Groundsel, Giant Red Paintbrush, Small Leopard Lilies, Swamp Onions, Sierra Rein Orchids and more cascading down the side of Mount Dana, in Yosemite. It's a sight that humbles the cockiest gardeners. And Blue-pod Lupine has been crossed with other species, particularly Tree Lupine (L. arboreus) to create beautiful horticultural hybrids.

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