Flora of North America species comparison

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Lupinus albifrons var. austromontanus

Lupinus albifrons
Photo is of parent taxon

evergreen lupine, silver bush lupine, silver lupine, white-leaf bush lupine
Habit Herbs or subshrubs, herbaceous toward base, 2–5 dm, usually silver-hairy. Subshrubs or shrubs, rarely perennial herbs, (1–)2–50 dm, usually silvery, sometimes greenish.
Stems

decumbent to erect, clustered, branched or unbranched.
Leaves

silver-hairy;

petiole 4–15 cm.

cauline, clustered near base or not;

stipules 6–20 mm;

petiole 1–8(–12) cm;

leaflets 6–10, blades 10–45 × 4–18 mm, surfaces hairy.
Racemes

14–40 cm.

4–40 cm, rachis usually deciduous or semideciduous;

flowers usually spirally arranged or loosely whorled.
Inflorescence

bracts 8–9 mm.

Peduncles

5–13 cm;

bracts deciduous, 4–24 mm.
Pedicels

3–10 mm.
Flowers

14–18 mm.

10–18 mm;

calyx bulge or spur 0–1 mm, abaxial lobe entire or 3-toothed, 6–10 mm, adaxial lobe deeply divided, 6–8 mm;

corolla violet to lavender, patch usually yellow, rarely white, turning purple, banner usually hairy abaxially, rarely glabrous, keel usually unlobed proximally, adaxial margin usually ciliate middle to tip, abaxial margins glabrous.
Legumes

3–5 cm, hairy.
Cotyledons

deciduous, petiolate.
Seeds

4–9, mottled tan, 4–6 mm.

Lupinus albifrons var. austromontanus

Lupinus albifrons
Phenology Flowering May–Jul.
Habitat Dry slopes, upper chaparral and yellow pine forests.
Elevation 1000–3000 m. (3300–9800 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico (n Baja California)
from USDA
w United States; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety austromontanus is known from the Tehachapi Mountains southward to northern Baja California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 8 (8 in the flora).

Lupinus albifrons is the most common shrubby lupine in western North America. The combination of silver-pubescent leaves, banners that are pubescent abaxially, and keels that are usually ciliate will separate it from the coastal L. arboreus and the dune loving L. chamissonis. The desert L. excubitus is separated by petiole length, raceme rachis persistence and size, elevation, and distribution. Some of the varieties (austromontanus, collinus, and medius) are woody at base but can appear herbaceous.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Shrubs, 5–50 dm.
→ 2
2. Flowers 14–18 mm; leaves greenish hairy.
var. hallii
2. Flowers 10–14 mm; leaves silver-silky.
→ 3
3. Inflorescence bracts 4–8 mm; coastal California, s Oregon.
var. albifrons
3. Inflorescence bracts 10–24 mm; San Francisco Bay region, Central Coast, n Channel Islands, California.
var. douglasii
1. Subshrubs (occasionally semi-herbaceous and woody at base), 1–7(–10) dm.
→ 4
4. Flowers 14–18 mm.
→ 5
5. Plants herbaceous toward base; racemes 14–40 cm; Tehachapi Mountains, California, southward.
var. austromontanus
5. Plants woody toward base; racemes 6–12 ­cm; San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, California.
var. johnstonii
4. Flowers 10–16 mm.
→ 6
6. Petioles to 12 cm; Sonora Desert, California.
var. medius
6. Petioles 3–8 cm; cismontane California.
→ 7
7. Pubescence woolly to shaggy; shrubs or subshrubs 2–10 dm; Santa Lucia Mountains, Monterey County, California.
var. abramsii
7. Pubescence appressed-silvery, not woolly or shaggy; subshrubs 2–4 dm; n, s Coast Ranges, n Sierra Nevada Foothills, Cali­fornia, Oregon.
var. collinus
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lupinus > Lupinus albifrons Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lupinus
Sibling taxa
L. albifrons var. abramsii, L. albifrons var. albifrons, L. albifrons var. collinus, L. albifrons var. douglasii, L. albifrons var. hallii, L. albifrons var. johnstonii, L. albifrons var. medius
L. adsurgens, L. affinis, L. albicaulis, L. andersonii, L. angustiflorus, L. antoninus, L. apertus, L. arboreus, L. arbustus, L. arcticus, L. argenteus, L. arizonicus, L. benthamii, L. bicolor, L. brevicaulis, L. breweri, L. cervinus, L. chamissonis, L. citrinus, L. concinnus, L. constancei, L. covillei, L. croceus, L. dalesiae, L. diffusus, L. duranii, L. elatus, L. elmeri, L. excubitus, L. flavoculatus, L. formosus, L. fulcratus, L. gracilentus, L. grayi, L. guadalupensis, L. havardii, L. hirsutissimus, L. huachucanus, L. hyacinthinus, L. kingii, L. kuschei, L. lapidicola, L. latifolius, L. lepidus, L. leucophyllus, L. littoralis, L. longifolius, L. ludovicianus, L. luteolus, L. magnificus, L. malacophyllus, L. microcarpus, L. nanus, L. neomexicanus, L. nevadensis, L. nipomensis, L. nootkatensis, L. obtusilobus, L. odoratus, L. onustus, L. oreganus, L. pachylobus, L. padrecrowleyi, L. peirsonii, L. perennis, L. polyphyllus, L. pratensis, L. pusillus, L. rivularis, L. sabineanus, L. sericatus, L. sericeus, L. shockleyi, L. sierrae-blancae, L. sparsiflorus, L. spectabilis, L. stiversii, L. subcarnosus, L. succulentus, L. sulphureus, L. texensis, L. tidestromii, L. tracyi, L. truncatus, L. uncialis, L. villosus, L. westianus
Subordinate taxa
L. albifrons var. abramsii, L. albifrons var. albifrons, L. albifrons var. austromontanus, L. albifrons var. collinus, L. albifrons var. douglasii, L. albifrons var. hallii, L. albifrons var. johnstonii, L. albifrons var. medius
Synonyms L. austromontanus, L. excubitus subsp. austromontanus, L. excubitus var. austromontanus
Name authority Jepson: Fl. Calif. 2: 252. (1936) Bentham: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 19: plate 1642. (1834)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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