Blue pea flowers in an upright, elongated, terminal cluster on an erect stem with palmately compound leaves.

To 5/8" long.

Palmately compound, with 7-11 leaflets, each to 2" long, radiating from a central point.

Hairy pod, to 2" long.

8-24".

April- July.

Dry open woods and fields.

Lupines were once thought to deplete or "wolf" the mineral content of the soil, hence the genus name, derived from the Latin lupus ("wolf"). Actually, plants in the pea family enhance soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form. In the South this species has narrower leaflets and is often recognized as Nuttall's Lupine (L.nuttallii). Two southern species with undivided, elliptical leaves are Spreading Lupine (L.diffusus), with blue flowers and a whitish spot on the standard, and Hairy lupine (L.villosus). a hairy plant with lavender-blue flowers and a red-purple spot on the standard. Both species are found from the Carolinas south to Florida and west to Louisiana. Blue-pod lupine (L.polyphyllus) is becoming extremely abundant in the Northeast, particularly Maine and adjacent Canada; it was introduced from the Northwest.