Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annual to 0.5 m, hairy, with leafy stems.

Leaves: Digitately compound with 5-7 leaflets, leaflets, 2-3 mm wide, acute to obtuse at the tips, 1-5 mm wide, petioles 1-7 cm long, mostly linear, upper surface glabrous or sparsely pubescent.

Flowers: Blue, purple or spotted white, becoming magenta, borne in whorls on terminal racemes 1-8 cm long, calyx strongly bilabiate, the keel curved and enclosed by the wing, becoming ciliate near the tip, stamens dimorphic.

Fruits: Pods compressed, oblong, sometimes constricted between the seeds, hairy, with 5-8 seeds.

Ecology: Found in open or disturbed areas from 2,500-4,500 ft (762-1372 m); flowering March-May.

Notes: Even though the common name of this species is the miniature lupine, this species is often bushy and somewhat tall, with showy, purple or purple and white flowers.

Ethnobotany: There is no specific use recorded for the species, but the genus was used as an infusion to treat stomachache upset, gas, and hiccups, and rubbed on fly bites and sores, an infusion of the roots was taken and rubbed on mumps, and the plant was used to treat urinary problems. The plants, leaves, and roots were used as food, and the seeds were used as pinole. The plants were given as medicine to sick horses, and used as fodder for horses and cattle. The leaves were used by medicine men during ceremonies to reinforce his powers before face painting, and the leaves were used as incense for the ghost dance, and the plant was used for the Shooting chant. Some entries however, state the plant is poisonous.

Synonyms: Lupinus hirsutulus, Linnaeus micranthus var. bicolor

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011

Etymology: Lupinus comes from the Latin lupus for "wolf," alluding to the belief that these plants robbed the soil, which is the opposite of the truth, while bicolor means two-colored.