Lupines!

As I wrote in "Treasure of the Sierra Nevada" last summer, the varieties of Lupine I saw near Donner Summit were a siren's call I simply could not resist. Within a month my wife and I, with our three cats in tow, were moving across country, to smash our boat into the rocky shores of the California mountains. The Lupines that lured us here were primarily Brewer's Lupine (Lupinus breweri), an unusual Lupine because it is a dwarf, matted or tufted plant, and Broad-leaf Lupine (L. latifolius), a much bigger species, which prefers moist areas (Brewer's Lupine likes it dry). Though no one said it, someone could've have told us, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

On our wildflower drive around southern and central California, we were treated not only to a rainbow of blooms, but perhaps as many as 10 species of Lupine! We're still mulling over a few photographs, considering where they were growing, and getting nowhere.

Many of the roadsides were a blush of blue and purple mixed up with yellows, oranges, pinks and whites. The Lupines ranged from the vast blue carpets of Miniature Lupine (L. bicolor ssp microphyllus) covering roadsides and fields, up to the 6' tall trees of Bush Lupine (L. alibfrons) that covered entire rocky hillsides. There were shades of blue and shades of purple and white bits with freckles and yellow bits with freckles and pale parts with no freckles at all. Some where hairy with bristles, some with peach fuzz. Some were not hairy at all. All were exquisitely gorgeous.

Fortunately, for my sanity, some of the Lupines were easy to identify. The Miniature and Bush Lupines, for example. The Miniature Lupine is so small, Brewer's Lupine is a glandular case by comparison. It is an annual, and grows only to about 18" tall. The flowers, blue and white with speckles, are only about 1/4" in size. Zooming by at 70 MPH, you don't see Lupine, but blue ground.

Bush Lupine is a big, woody perennial. It grows in open sandy or rocky places, and its spikes of flowers get up to a foot long. The banner of the blue-purple flowers is yellowish with black specs, and turns red-purple as the flowers age.

Spider Lupine (L. benthamii) was also easy to identify because of its narrow leaflets, which bring to mind the legs of a spider. (Good thing, those spidery leaflets, for the flowers looked much like those of most other Lupines.) As ubiquitous as the other two, it seemed most abundant in rocky areas.

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