Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous perennials to 80 cm tall, stems strigose below, glabrous to glabrescent above, the hairs of the stems and petioles appressed.

Leaves: Alternate, palmately compound with 5-10 leaflets, leaflets linear to oblanceolate, 2-7 cm long, very acute to obtuse at the tips, silvery silky-hairy on both sides.

Flowers: Light to dark blue or purple, bilabiate, 8-10 mm long, the banner petal with long, soft-silky hairs in the center of the back, calyx gibbous at the base, sometimes short-spurred on the upper side at the base, stamens monadelphous, anthers dimorphic, alternately elongate and short, borne in dense terminal racemes, these 2-8 cm long.

Fruits: Flattened pods, 2-3.5 cm long, usually constricted between the seeds. Seeds 3-6.

Ecology: Found in open coniferous forests, from 4,000-4,500 ft (1219-1372 m).

Distribution: Arizona only.

Notes: According to Kearney and Peebles, this species is differentiated from the similar L. argenteus by distribution; L. lemmonii occurs in the southern portions of the state at lower elevations, and is difficult to identify, so collect it if possible. This may not always occur, but if the leaves are bright green and glabrescent above, and sericeous (silky-hairy) below, the species is likely L. argenteus, if silky-hairy on both sides, the species is likely L. lemmonii. Kearney and Peebles also note that this species looks very similar to L. palmeri, except for the appressed hairs of the stems and leaves, which are not appressed in L. palmeri, and is widely distributed in Arizona.

Ethnobotany: There is no specific use recorded for the species, but the genus has many uses.

Synonyms: None

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 oppposite of the truth, while lemmonii is named named after John Gill Lemmon (1832-1908), who with his wife Sara Allen Plummer Lemmon (1836-1923), collected plants throughout the American West.