Lupinus sericeus Pursh var. sericeus

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘Lupinus sericeus Pursh.  Silky Lupine.  Perennial, 30-120 cm tall, from a branching caudex; pubescence of stems short-villous to pilose or strigose, sometimes spreading; petioles 1.2-9 cm long; leaflets 5-9, 7-78 mm long, 2-15 mm wide, oblanceolate, commonly flat (at least some), pilose to puberulent on both surfaces or glabrous to glabrate above; peduncles 1.3-9 cm long; racemes 14- to 70-flowered, 6-28 cm long in anthesis, the axis 8-37 cm long in fruit; flowers 10-16 mm long, blue, blue-purple, pale, or white; pedicels 2-7 mm long; calyx more or less gibbous at the base of upper lip; banner with yellow or brown eyespot, strigose along the dorsal crest or more widely; ovules 5-7.  Widely distributed in Utah, and constituting one of the three important species complexes in the state, L. sericeus, along with L. argenteus and L. caudatus, occupy most of the range available to perennial lupines.’  In the variety sericeus the leaflets are only slightly pubescent or have a scattering of hairs.  [The Great Basin Naturalist vol.38, p.331/1978]

History at Camden Park

Seed order to Hurst and McMullen, Seedsmen and Florists of London, on 8th April 1846.  [MP A2933-1, p.132]. 

Notes