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Nootka lupin

Nootka lupin

Lupinus nootkatensis

Identify the Nootka lupin from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

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How common: Fairly rare

Invasive alien species – remove it if you can

Nootka lupin is a perennial lupine native to northwestern North America. It is often seen in open, gravelly places and other disturbed ground, and has been planted in various regions outside its native range where it can escape into the wild. Its showy blue flower spikes are most noticeable in the warmer part of the growing season.

Did you know?

  • Nootka lupin hybridizes readily with the garden lupin (Lupinus polyphyllus), which can blur identification.
  • Each leaf is palmately divided into 6–8 blunt-tipped leaflets, giving it a hand-like look.

About the species

Identification

A tufted perennial herb typically about 40–80 cm tall. Leaves are long-stalked and palmately compound with 6–8 blunt-tipped leaflets; the stems and the undersides of the leaflets are hairy. The inflorescence is an upright terminal raceme of blue flowers with a distinct white patch on the upper petal (banner). Fruits are short pods about 3 cm long with 4–6 seeds. It blooms in the warmer part of the growing season; compared with garden lupin, Nootka lupin is often shorter and has fewer, broader leaflets, though hybrids can appear intermediate.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

yards and roadsides, shore

Flowering

Jun–Aug

About the habitat

Grows on gravelly soils and other open, disturbed sites such as wastelands, where the ground is well-drained and often nutrient-poor.

Sources

Photo: ikelman, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6481166120

Text: FinBIF species descriptions + Wikipedia (Finnish), FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.41164

See also