Lupinus microcarpus, the wide-bannered lupine or chick lupine, is a species of lupine native to western North America from southwestern British Columbia south through Oregon and California, including the Mojave Desert, and into Baja California. There is also a disjunct population in South America, with locations in central Chile and western Argentina.
Lupinus microcarpus | |
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Lupinus microcarpus var. microcarpus | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Faboideae |
Genus: | Lupinus |
Species: | L. microcarpus
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Binomial name | |
Lupinus microcarpus |
Description
editLupinus microcarpus is an annual plant growing to 80-centimetre (31 in) tall. The leaves are palmately compound with 5-11 leaflets 1-centimetre (0.39 in)–5-centimetre (2.0 in) long and up to 1-centimetre (0.39 in) broad.
The flowers are generally pink to purple in color, but can also be between white and yellow; they are produced in open whorls on an erect spike.
Lupinus microcarpus grows from sea level in the north of its range, up to 1,600-metre (5,200 ft) high in Southern California.
Varieties
editThere are three named botanical varieties:
- Lupinus microcarpus var. densiflorus - whitewhorl lupine[1] or dense-flowered lupine. Endemic and restricted to western California (formerly Lupinus densiflorus).[2]
- Lupinus microcarpus var. horizontalis. Endemic and restricted to southeastern California deserts.[3]
- Lupinus microcarpus var. microcarpus. Widespread, British Columbia to Chile.[4]
Phytoremediation waste management
editChilean scientists (Universidad de Santiago de Chile) studying phytoremediation waste management in the city of Antofagasta, discovered that plants are capable of absorbing arsenic from the soil.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ NRCS. "Lupinus densiflorus". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ Jepson Manual treatment for LUPINUS microcarpus var. densiflorus . accessed 10.21.2011
- ^ Jepson Manual treatment for LUPINUS microcarpus var. horizontalis . accessed 10.21.2011
- ^ Jepson Manual treatment for LUPINUS microcarpus var. microcarpus . accessed 10.21.2011
- Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Jon Mark Stewart, 1998, pg. 137
- Chilean Scientists use the plant for wastes' Phytoremediation clean-up management of soils.