General: Annual herb from a taproot; stems several, more or less erect, 10-40 cm tall, branched, with short, appressed or spreading-ascending hairs as well as scattered longer hairs.
Leaves: Alternate, palmately compound with 5 to 8 leaflets; leaflets linear-oblanceolate, sharp-pointed or blunt at the tip, 1.5-3 cm long, appressed-hairy on both surfaces.
Flowers: Inflorescence a terminal, stalked raceme of scattered (not whorled) pea-like flowers; corollas bluish, 7-9 mm long, the banner oblong to circular, often with a white centre, about as long as the wings and the keel, the keel fringed with hairs along the upper edges; calyces 2-lipped, the upper lip 2-lobed, the lower lip entire to 3-toothed.
Fruits: Pods, 1.5-2.5 cm long, 3-5 mm wide, appressed-hairy; seeds 4 to 8, greyish to tan with dark stippling or mottling, 2-3 mm wide.
Notes: Lupinus vallicola ssp. apricus easily falls within the variability of L. bicolor and the use of banner size to separate them is arbitrary.
Dry to mesic meadows, grassy bluffs, sandy clearings and forest glades in the lowland zone; infrequent on SE Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the lower mainland; S to CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
