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| (Fig.01) |
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Picture Notes: The picture in (Fig. 01) was taken on 05/24/2012 along Wheeler Pass Road. Both of the pictures (Figs. 02 & 03) were taken on 06/05/2013 while driving down Wheeler Pass Road on the east side of Wheeler Pass in the Spring Mountains. The elevation was around 7,000 feet.
Description: Miniature Lupine (Lupinus bicolor), a.k.a Miniature Annual Lupine, Pigmy-leaved Lupine, is a small, grayish, hairy, branched plant with palmately compound leaves and blue-violet and white pea flowers arranged in whorls in short, thick, cone-like racemes. The pea-like flowers occur in a short raceme and are subtended by small, palmately compound leaves. Though there are many other annual lupines, I believe this is the correct classification. Growing up to 16 inches in height, it grows off a hairy, erect single stem that is often branched. Its leaf petiole is 1/2–2 1/2 inches, palmately divided into 5–7 narrow leaflets, hairless or covered with tiny hairs on upper surface. Flower heads to 3 inches long, with flowers held in tight whorls along the stalk. It most often grows in thin or disturbed soils below 4500 feet, often making large waves of blue across open areas in early to mid spring.
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| (Fig. 02) |
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| (Fig. 03) |
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