General:
Perennial herb from a woody stem-base; stems erect to spreading, 20-60 cm tall, several, clumped, simple or somewhat branched, mostly fine silky-hairy.
Leaves:
Basal and alternate along the stem, palmately compound on long stalks (the lower stalks 2-4 times as long as the blades but the upper ones 1/2 as long); leaflets 7 to 11, oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, rounded to sharp-pointed at the tip, 3-6 cm long, equally hairy on both sides or glabrous above.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a terminal raceme of numerous, whorled, pea-like flowers, the racemes 3-12 cm long on stalks 2-8 cm long; corollas blue to violet, sometimes whitish, 8-14 mm long on stalks 3-5 (10) mm long, the banner finely hairy on the central area of the back, the wings glabrous or hairy near the tip, the keel usually fringed with hairs on the upper edges; calyces 2-lipped, the upper lip 2-toothed at the tip and with a short (to 1.5 mm) spur or swelling at the base, the lower lip entire.
Fruits:
Pods, 2-3.5 cm long, 6-9 mm wide, silky or long soft-hairy; seeds 3 to 6, pinkish-brown.
Notes:
Two subspecies are recognized in BC:
1. Leaflets hairy above, sometimes only sparsely so, linear-elliptic to oblanceolate, usually less than 6 mm wide................ ssp. neolaxiflorus Dunn
1. Leaflets hairless or nearly so above, oblanceolate, 6-10 mm wide.................. ssp. pseudoparviflorus (Rydb.) Dunn
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Lupinus laxiflorus var. elmerianus C.P. Sm.
Lupinus laxiflorus var. pseudoparviflorus (Rydb.) C.P. Sm. & H. St. John
Lupinus laxispicatus Rydb.
Lupinus laxispicatus var. whithamii C.P. Sm.
Lupinus mucronulatus var. umatillensis C.P. Sm.
Lupinus scheuberae Rydb.