| Miniature Lupine |
| Lupinus bicolor |
| Family: Fabaceae (Legume) |
| Flowers — color: blue, size: 1/8", type: pea, banner & keel |
Classic pea-shaped flower: two white petals overlap, forming the upper banner, and three blue petals curling, forming the lower wings and keel [see Pacific pea]. Three to six small flowers, less than 1/8" long, attach in one or more whorls: radially around the stem, or more casually at the end of the stem. Seeds develop in peapod with built-in torque. When the seeds are mature, the pod springs open and casts the seeds away, sometimes many feet from the plant.
Habit:
Miniature Lupine is an annual herb, unlike the bush lupines in the reserve that are perennial shrubs. Five to eight narrow leaves attach palmately, radially, to a short, reddish stem. Most lupines spread their leaves wide in a flat plane. Miniature Lupine sometimes partially folds its leaves into a cone-shape, perhaps reducing heat absorption. Both stems and leaves have fine hairs, but small specimens look fuzzy, while larger specimens seem to have smoother leaves.
The size and shape of Miniature Lupine varies greatly with available resources and stresses. In one field, it forms a short mound two inches high and 6 inches diameter. Thirty yards away, it is only one inch high and four inches diameter. Thirty yards in the opposite direction, with more shade and presumably more moisture, the lupine is twelve inches high and eighteen inches diameter.
Open sunny grassland. For reference in the photos, my fingernail is 1/2 inch wide.