Florida Native Plant Society Blog

Skyblue Lupine's flowers are fading in Central Florida and the fuzzy seed pods are becoming prominent yet this amazing pollinator plant is in peak bloom in North Florida. Just like the White Wild Indigo profiled last week, Skyblue Lupine is a legume, meaning it associates with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and has a certain "beany" flower shape. Skyblue Lupine, Lupinus diffusus flowering and fruiting in Split Oak Forest March 17th, 2019. Photo © Tayler Figueroa . Skyblue lupine has a long, sensitive taproot and likes dry soils, so is found in sandhills , scrubs , openings in xeric hammocks , and dry flatwoods . It is very difficult to transplant and grow from seed so it is not available from nurseries for your home landscape or for restoration. It's leaves are eaten by the Frosted Elfin ( Callophyris irus ) butterfly, which is Listed Endangered in Florida 1 . It's also eaten by Grey Hairstreak ( Strymon melinis ) larvae, Genista Broom Moth ( Uresiphita ...

Lupinus cumulicola Text and photo by Roger L. Hammer, edited by Valerie Anderson From January to May each year the white sand scrub on the Lake Wales Ridge in Lake, Osceola, Polk, and Highlands Counties are adorned with the cheery blue flowers of the Florida endemic sandhill lupine (pronounced LOO-PIN).  Some botanists consider it a synonym of  Lupinus diffusus ,  but others argue that  L. diffusis differs by its habitat, range, prostrate to decumbent stems, orbicular-reniform (kidney-shaped) standard, and a nearly straight beak on the pods.  The stems of  Lupinus cumulicola  are usually erect with gray-green, silky pubescent, elliptic leaves that average 2”–3” long and about 1” wide. The pods have a curved beak. Lupinus  is taken from  lupus,  or “wolf,” and alludes to the curious belief that these plants consumed soil fertility, when, in fact, they improve the soil with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The specie...