The following key to the genus Lupinus in Texas is from:
Correll, D. S., and Johnston, M. C. (1979). Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas.
LUPINUS
Binennials or winter annuals (or perennial herbs in L. plattensis) forming rosettes
A genus of perhaps 200 species in the temperate regions of both hemispheres This species is named by law as the State Flower of Texas.
This is the species that is widely spread by our highway department,
C. L. Lundell ed. The University of Texas at Dallas, pp. 802 - 804.
in the fall, flowering the next spring; taproots slender; leaves alternate,
palmately compound with 3 to 10 leaflets; leaflets mostly narrowly obovate to
oblanceolate, long-tapered to the base, apically rounded or truncate to acute
at apex, often with rather dense sericeous pubescence (at least on the lower surface);
petioles well -developed; stipules adnate to the base of the petiole; flowers in
conspicuous terminal racemes, papilionaceous, each flower mostly blue or lavender
but with some areas of white and maroon on some of the petals, never yellow; calyx
2-lipped, the lips nearly entire and the lower 1 longer; banner external to the other
petals in bud; stamens 10, monadelphous, dimorphic, the longer with more or less
globose versatile anthers, the shorter with linear basifixed anthers; ovary sessile;
legume oblong or broadly linear, flattened, 2- to 12-seeded, usually sericeous-pubescent;
seeds pebblelike.
(not Africa or Australia).
on both surfaces; plants mostly 15 cm. high or less, rarely to 25 cm;
in Trans-Pecos Texas...............................................1. L. concinnus.
leaflets sparsely hairy or glabrous on upper surface (2)
5-7 mm. wide; banner with creamy or yellowish eye;
in Trans-Pecos Texas...............................................2. L. havardii.
banner with bright white eye; in Panhandle, central and east Texas
(except L. texensis) cultivated or occasionally introduced along roadsides
in Trans-Pecos Texas and L. plattensis in Panhandle) (3)
Leaves with predominately 7 to 10 (very rarely 6 or 5) leaflets; perennial herb
to about 5 dm. high................................................5. L plattensis.
pubescence of flower buds and mature pod yellowish-gray or brown; tip in
incompletely expanded raceme rounded,not very conspicuous from a distance;
leaflets mostly obtuse or broadly rounded at apes, usually some truncate
at apex and cuneate below; plants occurring in sandy or sandy-clay soils
of oak and pine areas..............................................3. L subcarnosus.
dark blue (except for occasional albinos); pubescence of flower buds and
mature pod silvery or white; tip of incompletely expanded raceme white,
pointed or acute, conspicuous from a distance; leaflets mostly acute to
obtuse at apex, not truncate nor cuneate, plants occurring in calcarious,
gravelly or sandy-clay soilsbut often growing in and along roadways
...................................................................4. L. texensis.
from the base, 4-15 (-25) cm. tall, densely villous, the spreading hairs 1-3 mm.
long; leaves numerous, very villous, the petioles 2 to 4 times as long as the
longes tleaflets; leaflets 5 to 8, oblanceolate with obtuse apexes, 1-2 cm. long,
2-5 mm. broad, with a pubescence of long spreading hairs on both surfaces;
racemes nearly sessile, 3-6 cm. long, surpassed by the leaves; flowers 7-9 mm.
long, usually well-scattered; pedicels about 1 mm. long; calyx upper lip bifid,
about 4 mm.long, the lower lip 3-toothed and somewhat longer; petals edged
with rich reddish-purple; banner 7-9 mm. long, 4-5 mm. broad, rounded or
emarginate apically, white centrally, the lateral portions lavender; wings
7-8 mm.long, about 3 mm. broad, lavender-tipped; keel usually straight, 6-7
mm.long, about 2 mm. broad, naked, often red-tipped; pods oblong, 10-15 mm.
long; seeds 2 to 4, 2-3 mm. long, angled, nearly square, mostly dull-spotted
on a pale background. Infrequent in local populations, grama grasslands in the
Trans-Pecos above 4,500 ft. elev., spring; s.w. U.S. and n.w. Mex.
averaging much taller than most of our other bluebonnets, with more vigorous
ascending branches; herbage with silky appressed or ascending (not spreading)
pubescence; leaflets usually 7, oblanceolate, glabrous on the upper surface,
8-20 mm. long or larger; raceme (including peduncle) 18-45 cm. long, the pedicels
equaling or exceeding their calyxes at anthesis; calyx narrow, slightly gibbous;
petals about 12 mm. long, purple-blue with a pale spot on the banner; banner
with a creamy-white center-spot; becoming yellow and finally red with age;
legume narrowly linear, 24-36 mm. long, about 4 mm. broad; seeds 6 to 8,
nearly square, the maximum diameter 3-3.5 mm. Frequent in deserts, usually
in allubium or fine talus, s. parts of Husspeth, Presidio and Brewster Cos.
in the Trans-Pecos, spring; also Chih.
the branches more or less decumbent, entire plant 15-40 cm. tall, subappressed-
silky-pubescent, often with some spreading hairs; leaves several, very silky
below and on the margins, glabrous or nearly so above; petioles fully twice
as long as their longest leaflets; leaflets usually 5 (or 6), very rarely 7,
oblanceolate, apically rounded to occasionally truncate or obtuse, the lower
leaves sometimes with more fleshy obovate leaflets, 12-25 mm. long, 6-12 mm.
broad; peduncles 3-8 mm. long; calyx 5-6 mm. long, its upper lip bifid and
4-5 mm. long, its lower lip entire or acutely 3-toothed and about 5-6 mm.
long; petals broad, bright-blue; banner with white center that may turn purplish
with age, suborbicular, 11-13 mm. long, 9-13 mm. broad; wings 10-11 mm. long,
6-7 mm. broad in fresh flowers inflated and cheeklike in front view; keel non-
ciliate, the usually slender point sharply upturned; pods silky, 25-35 mm. long,
6-8 mm. broad, stout and at maturity somewhat constricted between the large seeds;
seeds 4 or 5, gray or tawny, unmarked or obscurely spotted, about 5 mm. broad.
Locally abundant in loose deep fine sandy loam or podsol, s.-cen. Tex. from Leon
Co. s.w. to LaSalle Co. and in scattered populations to n. Hidalgo Co., scattered
in some areas by humans but rarely persisting (e.g., in Orange Co.) spring; endemic.
distance the half-mature raceme appearing slightly thicker and more crowded,
the tip portion silvery white (owing to bud-pubescence) and pointed or acute,
conspicuous and showy; leaflets usually more acute apically; calyx slightly
larger on the average (6-8 mm.); wing petals on fresh flowers not inflated,
nearly straight in front view, dark-blue (except for occasional albinos).
Widespread in usually calcareous soils, in a N.-S. zone through Tex.,
W. to Taylor, Tom Green and Val Verde cos., e. to Fannin, Kaufman, Leon
and Washington cos., spring; endemic.
garden clubs and other such organizations. Because of its apparent
unpalatability to grazing animals and the prevalent practice of abusive
overstocking of ranges where it grows, the species is greatly increasing
in numbers and distribution.
usually more than 6 per leaf. Rare in dunes of higher parts of the Plains
Country (Hartley Co.), Apr.-May; w.-cen. U.S., s. to Okla. and Tex.
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