Brewer's Lupine
Lupinus breweri · Fabaceae
- Form
- Subshrub
- Height
- 2–8 in
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Water
- Low
- Blooms
- Jun, Jul, Aug
- Pet toxicity
- Mild
🌿 California native
Quick facts
- Habitat: Open, well-drained Montane and Subalpine slopes, ridges, and gravel
- Form / size: Silvery mat, 2–8 in tall (spreading wider)
- Sun: Full sun · Water: Low
- Blooms: Blue-purple spikes with a pale banner spot, summer · Pollinator value: Moderate
Description
A lupine that grows as a low silver mat. Where most lupines stand knee-high, Brewer’s lupine is a dense, cushion-forming perennial only a few inches tall, woody at the base and spreading wider than it is high. Its palmate leaves are crowded near the ground, each with five to ten small leaflets covered in silky, silvery hairs that give the whole plant a felted gray look. Short, congested flower spikes barely rise above the foliage, carrying small blue-to-violet pea flowers, the banner marked with a pale white-to-yellow central patch.
Ecological role
Like other legumes, Brewer’s lupine forms root nodules with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, letting it colonize poor, gravelly, well-drained mountain soils and slowly enrich them. It is a larval host for lycaenid “blue” butterflies such as Boisduval’s blue, and Calscape credits it with supporting on the order of 45 associated butterfly and moth species. A pioneer of open, disturbed, and rocky subalpine and alpine sites, it helps knit together the thin soils of high slopes and fell-fields.
Habitat & range
Open, well-drained slopes, ridges, and forest openings through the Sierra Nevada, roughly 4,000 to 12,000 ft, the high-alpine forms reaching near the crest. It grows around Lake Tahoe and through the Eastern Sierra high country near Mammoth Lakes and the Mono Basin.
In the garden
A rock-garden and alpine subject that needs sharp drainage and full sun and resents summer water and heavy soil. Low water once established, it is best where it can spread as a low silver mat over gravel or scree. Its high-elevation origin means it performs poorly in hot, low-elevation gardens.
Propagation
From seed, whose hard coat benefits from scarification and cold-moist stratification. Inoculating with legume bacteria can help establishment in sterile mixes. It is difficult to transplant because of the woody taproot, so sow it in place or start it in deep containers.
Where to see it near you
- iNaturalist — observed across California (map)
- Open gravel and rocky slopes around Lake Tahoe and the Eastern Sierra high country.
Problems
As with many lupines, the seeds and foliage contain alkaloids that are mildly toxic if eaten in quantity. It is otherwise trouble-free on the sharp-drained sites it prefers.
