Lupinus sericeus
Synonyms: Lupinus leucopsis, Lupinus lecuopsis var. mollis, Lupinus leucopsis var. shermanensis, Lupinus ornatus, Lupinus sericeus var. fikeranus, Lupinus sericeus var. flexuosus, Lupinus sericeus var. maximus, Lupinus sericeus ssp. sericeus, Lupinus sericeus var. sericeus, Lupinus sericeus var. wallowensis
The photo at right shows a close-up of the hairs on the back of the banner of silky lupine as seen from Zumwalt Prairie about 10 miles to the northeast of Enterprise, OR..............July 9, 2007. The amount of hairiness on the back of the banner varies greatly, from found only around the calyx to widely covering the back of the banner as seen here. Note also the butterfly egg on the calyx.
Silky lupine is an attractive perennial which might be useful for natural gardens in the drier habitats of the Pacific Northwest. The one to several erect stems rise from 20-50 cm high. They are usually unbranched or perhaps with several branches to the stem. The herbage is usually somewhat silvery or rust-colo,re srom the numerous spreading to appressed hairs on the leaves and stems. The herbage is not however, as dense and silvery as that found in velvet lupine which may grow in the same habitats. The hairs are of two lengths. The leaves are mainly on the stems (especially at blooming times) with the lower petioles as much as 3 times longer than the leaf blades. The leaves become reduce on the upper stems with the petioles roughly the same length as the blades. The leaves are palmately-compound with 7-9 oblanceolate leaflets, each 3-6 cm long and 3-6 mm wide.
The inflorescence is an elongate raceme of numerous, fairly densely clustered flowers. The racemes vary in length from 10-15 cm long. The flowers are largely a soft blue with a lavender tinge with 2 white markings on the banner petal. The flowers may occasionally be yellowish or whitish. The back of the banner is sparsely to densely haired with microscopic hairs. The calyx is silky with a deeply split calyx. The upper lobe is bidentated while the lower is entire. The banner is well reflexed from the keel with an index from 14-25. The keel has ciliate hairs along much of its upper edge. The tip of the keel turns upwards slightly. The pods are silky, ranging in length from 2-3 cm long and about 1 cm wide. They contain 3-5 seeds.
Silky lupine may be found on well drained soils on canyon slopes, ridges from the lowlands to well up in the mountains. It is most typically found on grasslands but may also be found in climax ponderosa pine amongst bunchgrasses.
Silky lupine maybe found from British Columbia south to the east of the Cascade Mts. to California and east to Alberta and New Mexico, with the eastern range in the US occurring in the Rocky Mts.
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