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Arctic Lupine (Lupinus arcticus)
   
Bloom time: June - July
General
The arctic lupine is a bushy herb
(15–50 cm tall), with hollow, upright stems covered in long silky white hairs.
Leaves & Twigs
The leaves are made up of six-to-eight pointed leaflets that look like fingers of a hand, and grow from the base of the plant on long stalks.
Flowers & Fruits
Flowers range from medium blue to a purple lavender colour and bloom from the bottom up in a cluster around a central stalk.
The fruits are yellowish, hairy pods (2-4 cm long) which twist after opening.
Habitat
Prefers open areas (including gravel), grassy alpine slopes, moist tundra, heath and woodland. Lupines are well adapted to northern climates, and can enrich soils that have low nitrogen levels.
PlantWatch Pointers
Select a typical patch of plants, if the plants are very abundant, mark off a l-metre-square section to observe.
To Observe
First bloom: when the first flowers are open in the observed plants (3 places).
Mid bloom: when 50% of the flowers are open in the observed plants.
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Distribution Map
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In the Yukon, 10,000- to 15,000-year-old lupine seeds were found in ancient lemming burrows. Not only did the seeds germinate, one plant grew flowers that produced new seeds.
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