Plant Name
Scientific Name: Lupinus arizonicus
Common Name: Arizona Lupine
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert
Flower Color: Pinkish purple, Pink
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To 2 feet (61 cm) tall
Description: The pea-shaped flowers are spiraled along hairy flower spikes. The individual flowers are 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) long and have a red-spotted, yellow and white banner spot that becomes deep magenta with age. The leaves are palmately compound with 6 to 10 leaflets. The upper surfaces of the leaflets are hairless.
The similar Coulter's Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus) has bluer (or rarely white) flowers and narrower leaflets with hair on the upper surface. Other desert lupines are typically either much smaller or larger plants than these two species.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae – Pea family
Genus: Lupinus L. – lupine
Species: Lupinus arizonicus (S. Watson) S. Watson – Arizona lupine
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