Mineral Wildflower Festival

Technical Name

• Lupinus polyphyllus (commonly Lupinus polyphyllus var. burkei)

Informal Names

• Bigleaf lupine

• Meadow lupine

• Burke's lupine

• Large-leaved lupine

Key Characteristics

• The Dense Flower Cone: Features a spectacular, heavily packed, narrow vertical spike (raceme) that can grow up to a foot or more in length. It is crowded with pea-like blossoms fading from rich violet-blue and lavender to deep purple.

• Wheel-Like "Big" Leaves: The striking, hand-shaped (palmately compound) leaves are much larger than most other wild lupines, carrying between 9 and 17 radiating, lance-shaped leaflets attached to a central point like the spokes of a green wheel.

• Stout, Erect Stems: This is a tall, robust perennial herb that shoots straight up on thick, mostly smooth, unbranched stems that can stand anywhere from 1.5 to over 4 feet tall, effortlessly topping the damp meadow grasses.

Notable Significance

• Subterranean Soil Builder: Like its fellow members of the legume and pea family, it forms a vital underground partnership with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. This chemical process naturalizes nutrients directly into the soil, keeping montane meadow habitats fertile and healthy.

• Alkaloid Toxicity Defense: The entire plant—particularly the developing seeds inside its hairy pods—contains highly concentrated quinolizidine alkaloids. While safe for native insects, it is quite toxic to livestock if heavily grazed.

• Butterfly Sanctuary: It provides critical habitat and serving as a key host plant for several native high-country butterfly caterpillars, who rely completely on the dense, vitamin-rich foliage to undergo metamorphosis.

Locations Found

• Habitat: It is a strict moisture-lover. It populates bright, open, and permanently damp ecosystems like high-altitude boggy fields, seasonal fens, slow-moving creek margins, and wet mountain meadows.

• Elevation Range: Native to the mountains of western North America, it thrives beautifully through the Sierra Nevada and Cascades at elevations from 3,000 up to 8,500 feet. The saturated, snowmelt-fed grassy flats around Mineral and Lassen Volcanic National Park provide its absolute premier habitat.