| Dune Bush Lupine |
| Lupinus chamissonis |
| Family: Fabaceae (Legume) |
| Flowers — color: lavender, size: 1" long, type: pea, banner & keel |
Dune Bush Lupine has a classic pea flower [see Pacific pea] about one inch long. The upper banner is lavender to purple and each half curls backwards. The lower wings are lavender with some white stripes, they curl and hide the keel that holds all the goodies. Silver bush lupine has similar but paler blue flowers.
A flower stem, four to eight inches long, holds one to three dozen flower buds on pedicels — short stems. These buds bloom from the bottom up, a raceme.
Flowers grow in whorls around the extending stem. A stem may grow 12 inches long and hold several dozen flower buds. Pollinated flowers develop into classic peapods, roughly 1.5 inches long. These pods develop under tension and have quite a bit of torque. When the seeds are mature, the pod springs open. Each straight half of the pod curls quickly, casting the seeds several feet away from the plant.
Habit:
Dune Bush Lupine is a perennial. Reddish stems branch to form a mounding shrub up to six feet tall. The compound leaf is palmate, leaflets spreading radially from its petiole. Each dark green leaflet is oblanceolate, lance-shaped, wider near the tip. They may fold lengthwise to reduce heating in the sun.
This variety is more common on the west side of Hwy. 1, while the silver bush lupine grows on the east side. The [darker] Santa Barbara and [paler] Lompoc ceanothus share the same territorial split.
Open sunny areas in the coastal scrub.