Photo Courtesy: Kathleen Scavone
Lupine flowers are some of the most elegant spring beauties. Poppies and lupine wave like flags in morning sunlight. Their complementary colors – blue-hued lupine and bright orange poppies – brighten the roadsides and sunny slopes of Lake County and beyond. Eleven Roses Ranch wildflower tours are a fun way to spot the flowers, along with a country drive up Butts Canyon Road or a walk on Cobb Mountain where iNaturalist shows us purple varieties of lupine may be found.
What’s not to love about lupines, since there are so many species and shades to admire? Lupine grows in every habitat with the exception of salt marshes, according to Glenn Keator in his book, ‘Complete Garden Guide to the Native Perennials of California’. Their flower spikes come in either purple, blue, yellow, or pink tones mixed in with white, making identification a bit difficult at times. Matt Ritter writes of lupines in his book ‘California Plants – A Guide to our Iconic Flora,’ explaining that there are over 220 species of lupine worldwide. Characteristics of lupine are their five petals, called a banner, with two wing petals and two that are fused, called the keel.
The California Native Plant Society Press is excited about a new book on their list, ‘Lupines of California,’ by Teresa Sholars, photographed by Stuart Wilson, that will make identifying the many species of lupines easier. Explaining that there are 70 species and 43 varieties of lupine in California, it is not always easy to identify them. Sholars based her guide on The Jepson Manual and eFlora and has 38 years of field experience with the flower, while Wilson gained his exquisite photographic skills at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara.
Lupines have held significant meaning in culture, folklore, and story over time. For example, lupines have been associated with renewal and creativity, while some cultures held that lupines contain medicinal properties. With so many varieties of lupine growing in California, it is not surprising that beach lupine, found along the coast, was and still is used by the Kashaya Pomo Indians. The roots were fashioned into fibers to make fish nets, nets for carrying items, as well as nets for rabbits and deer. The beautiful flowers are made into wreaths for the annual Flower Dance performed at the Strawberry Festival each May.
Lupines once received a bad rap, since their name comes from the word “lupus,” or wolf, when people used to believe that the plant stole nutrients from the soil, much like the big, bad wolf robbing chickens from the henhouse. Paradoxically, the plant actually gives back to the soil, as it is in the legume family and is both a nitrogen fixer and a weed suppressor.
There is a charming children’s story of the lupine lady by Barbara Cooney called ‘Miss Rumphius’. Cooney’s 1982 picture book, a National Book Award winner, was inspired by Hilda Edwards Hamlin, who lived in Maine and was moved to create beauty in the world by planting lovely lupine across the landscape.
