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Garden lupin

Garden lupin

Lupinus polyphyllus

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How common: Very common

Invasive alien species – remove it if you can

Garden lupin is a tall, long‑lived plant from western North America that has spread widely in Europe. It is often seen outside gardens, forming showy spikes of blue, purple, pink or white flowers along roadsides and other open places.

Did you know?

  • Its seed pods can burst and catapult the seeds a few metres away.
  • One plant can show several flower colors at once.

About the species

Identification

Sturdy, upright plant 60–150 cm tall. Leaves look like a hand with 9–15 narrow “fingers”, usually softly hairy underneath. Tall upright clusters of many pea‑like flowers, most often blue or purple but also pink or white. After flowering, hairy brown seed pods 2.5–4 cm long form and later split open. Stems are usually unbranched. Compared with Alaskan lupine, garden lupin has more, slimmer leaf “fingers” (about 9–15) and is less branched; Alaskan lupine has only 6–8 broader ones and branches more. In Finland it flowers mainly in June–July.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

heath forest, meadow, yards and roadsides, shore

Flowering

Jun–Aug

About the habitat

Grows in open, sunny places such as roadsides, verges, meadows, rail embankments and waste ground. It copes well with poor, sandy or gravelly soils and disturbed ground. Common in the south and central parts, becoming scarcer northwards; rare in northern Lapland but spreading.

Sources

Photo: David Thompson, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6129836279

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38950

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Laburnum-Luzula, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38950

Text: Pinkka: Luomuksen 100 lajia -haaste: lapset ja nuoret - Kasvit ja levät. Lähteet: Hämet-Ahti, L., Suominen, J., Ulvinen, T. & Uotila, P.(toim.): Retkeilykasvio, s. 35–38. Helsinki: Luonnontieteellinen keskusmuseo,Kasvimuseo, 1998. Laji.fi lajikuvaukset Vieraslajit.fi. Komealupiini. (Viitattu 7.10.2025), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38950

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38950

Text: Pinkka: Metsälajintuntemus - Koppisiemeniset, 2-sirkkaiset, Malvaceae - Onagraceae, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38950

Text: FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38950

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komealupiini

See also