View source for Biology:Lupinus polyphyllus

{{Short description|Species of legume}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Lupinus polyphyllus.JPG
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{Cite iucn|title=''Lupinus polyphyllus''|page=e.T82414032A82414039|last=Planchuelo, A.M.|year=2020|access-date=7 June 2022|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T82414032A82414039.en}}</ref>
| parent = Lupinus subg. Platycarpos
| taxon = Lupinus polyphyllus
| authority = [[Biography:John Lindley|Lindl.]]
}}

'''''Lupinus polyphyllus''''', the '''large-leaved lupine''', '''big-leaved lupine''', '''many-leaved lupine''',<ref>Dickinson, T.; Metsger, D.; Bull, J.; & Dickinson, R. (2004). ''The ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario.'' Toronto:Royal Ontario Museum, p.270.</ref> '''blue-pod lupine''',<ref name=Knopf/> or, primarily in cultivation, '''garden lupin''', is a species of lupine (lupin) native to western [[Earth:North America|North America]] from southern [[Earth:Alaska|Alaska]] and British Columbia<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lupinus polyphyllus - Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN) |url=https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/name/Lupinus%20polyphyllus |access-date=2022-08-15 |website=data.canadensys.net}}</ref> and western Wyoming, and south to Utah and {{wipe|California}}. It commonly grows along streams and creeks, preferring moist habitats.

== Description ==
It is a [[Biology:Perennial plant|perennial]] [[Biology:Herbaceous plant|herbaceous plant]] with stout stems growing to {{convert|1.5|m|ft}} tall. The [[Biology:Leaf|leaves]] are palmately compound with 9–17 leaflets {{convert|3|-|15|cm|in}} long. The [[Biology:Flower|flower]]s are produced on a tall spike, each flower {{convert|1|-|1.5|cm|in}} long, most commonly blue to purple in wild plants. The flowers are mostly visited by [[Biology:Bumblebee|bumblebee]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1111/plb.12328| title = Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers| journal = Plant Biology| pages = 56–62| year = 2015| last1 = Van Der Kooi | first1 = C. J.| last2 = Pen | first2 = I.| last3 = Staal | first3 = M.| last4 = Stavenga | first4 = D. G.| last5 = Elzenga | first5 = J. T. M.| url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273158762 | pmid = 25754608 | volume = 18| issue = 1}}</ref> The ''polyphyllus'' variety in particular make up a great number of the hybrids which are generally grown as garden lupines, which can vary dramatically in colours. The majority of lupines do not thrive in rich heavy soils, and often only live for a matter of years if grown in such places, because crown contact with manure or rich organic matter encourages rotting.

== Ecology ==
This lupine may represent a significant threat to the survival of the endangered [[Biology:Karner blue|Karner blue]] butterfly, due to its ease of hybridization with the Karner's food plant, ''[[Biology:Lupinus perennis|Lupinus perennis]]'', the wild perennial lupine.<ref name="Carolyn">{{cite book |last=Summers |first=Carolyn |date=2010 |title=Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMCK_Sl9AWwC&q=karner+blue+russell&pg=PA15 |location=United States |publisher=Rutgers University Press |page=15 |isbn=978-0813549323 }}</ref><ref name="DNR">{{cite web|url=http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/fact/BigleafLupine.html|title=Big-leaf lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus)|publisher=Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources|accessdate=2018-01-13}}</ref> Some sources argue that commercial lupine seeds are already questionable for the Karner due to hybridization. Additionally, incompatible lupines continue to be introduced by humans into places where the Karner lives or once lived.<ref name="Carolyn"/>

== Taxonomy ==
There are five varieties:
*''Lupinus polyphyllus'' var. ''burkei'' – Interior northwestern United States
*''Lupinus polyphyllus'' var. ''humicola'' – Interior western North America
*''Lupinus polyphyllus'' var. ''pallidipes'' – Western Oregon and Washington (Willamette Valley)
*''Lupinus polyphyllus'' var. ''polyphyllus'' – Coastal western North America
*''Lupinus polyphyllus'' var. ''prunophilus'' – Interior western North America

The [[Biology:Binomial nomenclature|species epithet]] ''polyphyllus'' means "many-leaved", from [[Social:Ancient Greek|Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|πολύς}} ({{grc-tr|πολύς}}) "many" and {{lang|grc|φύλλον}} ({{grc-tr|φύλλον}}) "leaf".
[[File:Lupinus polyphyllus hybrid.png|right|thumb|upright=0.72|Close-up of a Russell hybrid lupine in a typical garden setting in England]]

=== Hybrids ===
[[File:Blaue.Lupine.jpg|thumb|Close up of ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' flower]]
The herbaceous lupin ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' was brought by [[Biography:David Douglas (botanist)|David Douglas]] from North America to  {{wipe|United Kingdom}} in the 1820s.  Almost a century later, George Russell, a horticulturist from York, UK, started to breed the (later famous) Russell hybrids (''Lupinus'' × ''russellii'' <small>hort</small>).<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bourne|first1=Val|title=Falling in love again | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3298276/Falling-in-love-again.html|accessdate=26 June 2017|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=9 March 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=George Russell, MBE 1857 - 1951 | url = http://www.stillingtonvillage.org/history/Chapter5.htm|website=stillingtonvillage.org|accessdate=26 June 2017}}</ref> ''Lupinus polphyllus'' were originally of basic colours and had large gaps in the flowering spike. Without the use of modern-day plant breeding techniques, Russell took to ruthlessly pulling out any plants which he deemed to be unacceptable in growth or display. He spent two decades single-handedly trying to breed the perfect lupin, crossing ''L. polyphyllus'' with ''L. arboreus'', ''L. sulphureus'' and one or more annual species (maybe ''L. nootkatensis'').

Over the decades, the plants he selected developed flower spikes that were denser, larger, and more colourful than the original ''Lupinus polyphyllus''. His work may have gone unrecognised if he had not been encouraged by nurseryman James Baker to show the plants to the public. It is understood the pair worked together for several years to perfect the Russell Hybrid, before they were displayed at the Royal Horticultural Society's June show in 1937, where their brightly coloured, tightly packed spires won awards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gardenworld.co.uk/blog/garden-lupins/|title=BBC gardeners world article|publisher=BBC|accessdate=2010-06-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100622090115/http://www.gardenworld.co.uk/blog/garden-lupins/|archive-date=2010-06-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> Russell was later awarded an MBE, and the Royal Horticultural Society awarded him the Veitch Memorial Medal for a lifetime's achievement in horticulture. Baker later secured Russell's entire stock; in their heyday, Bakers Nurseries Ltd. of Codsall, Wolverhamton attracted 80,000 visitors in June to see {{convert|40|acre|ha}} of lupines in flower.

Russell disliked the blue colours, as they reflected too closely the original plants imported from America almost a 100 years previously. The blue colouring is a recessive [[Biology:Allele|allele]], and so although Russell might have worked hard to suppress it, lupines left unchecked over several generations will eventually revert to the old blues. Almost all garden lupines today are hybrids of the true Russell hybrids due to their ease of cross pollinating with one another, and with no special interest in lupine cultivating until recent years it has meant the plants have created a large pool of genetic diversity and variation from the original Russells.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westcountrylupins.co.uk/acatalog/|title=West Country Nurseries article|publisher=West Country Nurseries|accessdate=2010-06-06}}</ref>

There is strong concern that Russell lupine DNA significantly contaminates large percentages of commercially-available wild perennial Lupine, ''[[Biology:Lupinus perennis|Lupinus perennis]]'', seed, making it potentially unsuitable for the larvae of the endangered Karner Blue, ''Plebejus melissa samuelis'', butterfly. The Karner cannot feed upon Russell lupines, nor can it feed upon the base ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' species.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/the-rare-karner-blue-butterfly-is-making-a-comeback/|title=The Rare Karner Blue Butterfly|date=18 August 2013 |publisher=West Country Nurseries|accessdate=2018-01-13}}</ref> Those who wish to protect the Karner should prevent the introduction of ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' and Russell lupines into the remaining areas where the butterfly continues to exist, to prevent the toxic lupine hybridization.<ref name="DNR"/>

The templates created by Russell are still used by other specialist lupine horticulturalists today, e.g., Maurice and Brian Woodfield, nurserymen from Stratford-upon-Avon, who received the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal for their work on lupines in 2000. The Woodfields created more complex plants with more varied and vivid bi-coloured spikes, the red and yellow, and red and purple flowers are particular highlights of the "Woodfield" lupine variety.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/4791536/Simply-loopy.html|title=Telegraph Lupin article|work=The Telegraph|accessdate=2009-07-27 | location=London | first=Fred | last=Whitsey | date=2000-06-24}}</ref> In 2009, Sarah Conibear who runs the Westcountry Nurseries, displayed several new varieties including the ‘Beefeater', about which the RHS writer Graham Rice commented "[the beefeater] has what looks to be the best red lupine we've seen so far."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/archive/2009/05/17/westcountry-nurseries-new-at-chelsea-09.aspx|title=RHS article|publisher=RHS|accessdate=2009-07-27}}</ref>

==Cultivation and uses==
[[File:Flores de lupino (Ushuaia).jpg|thumb|Garden cultivars of ''Lupinus polyphyllus'']]

It is commonly used in gardens for its attractiveness to bees, as well as its ability to improve poor sandy soils with its nitrogen fixing ability and flowers. Numerous [[Biology:Cultivar|cultivar]]s have been selected for differing flower colour, including red, pink, white, blue, and multicoloured with different colours on different petals. Often hybrids between ''L. polyphyllus'' and ''[[Biology:Lupinus arboreus|L. arboreus]]'' are used, and sold under hybrid names such as Rainbow Lupins, Lupin Tutti Fruitti, and Band of Nobles (mixed), Chandelier (yellow), My Castle (red), Noble Maiden (white), The Chatelaine (pink), and The Governor (blue). They are very hardy plants, surviving extreme temperatures and withstanding frost to at least {{convert|-25|°C|°F}}. The wild varieties can easily become [[Earth:Invasive species|invasive]] and hard to dispose of unless kept in check on a regular basis. Growing lupins in pots can help prevent them from growing invasively in the ground.<ref name="How To Grow Lupins In Pots - The Ultimate Guide">{{cite web|url=https://www.plant-garden-secrets.com/blog/how-to-grow-lupins-in-pots |title=How To Grow Lupins In Pots - The Ultimate Guide |date=10 Oct 2022 | publisher=plant-garden-secrets.com}}</ref> They need a reasonable level of sun to survive, and do best in light soils, suffering in heavy and clay types. Once fully established they are extremely resilient and may be divided. Seeds taken from the mother plant will never be a true replica of the original even if they produce similar colourings.

Low alkaloidal or sweet [[Biology:Cultivar|cultivar]]s of this lupine suitable for fodder crops have been bred. To avoid restoration of alkaloid synthesis in cross-pollinated species of lupine, a new approach has been developed on the basis of specific crossing. Only compatible forms are involved in hybridization, with their low alkaloid content controlled by one and the same genetic system. These approaches have allowed transforming this bitter weed into a valuable fodder crop. In the conditions of Northwest Russia positive results from the use of the sweet commercial cultivar "Pervenec" (first sweet variety), which is included in the State Catalogue of selection achievements of Russia. Breeding of sweet lupine is carried out also in Finland. The newer garden hybrids of today are highly poisonous because they are full of toxic alkaloids and should never be eaten.

The species is also toxic to livestock.<ref name=Knopf>{{cite book |last=Whitney |first=Stephen |title=Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides) |date=1985 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-394-73127-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/601 601] |url=https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/601 }}</ref>

==Invasive species==
[[File:Russell lupins Canterbury New Zealand.jpg|thumb|Russell lupines alongside a road in Canterbury, New Zealand.]]
[[File:Lupina mnoholistá (Lupinus polyphyllus) - Cesta slobody.jpg|thumb|''Lupinus polyphyllus'' alongside a road in High Tatras, Slovakia.]]

In [[Earth:New Zealand|New Zealand]], where it is known as the '''Russell lupin''', ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' is classed as an [[Earth:Invasive species|invasive species]]<!-- deliberate link to dab pg --><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.asp?ID=3144|title=''Lupinus polyphyllus''|publisher=New Zealand Plant Conservation Network|accessdate=2010-10-04 }}</ref><ref name=DOC /> and covers large areas next to roadsides, pastures and riverbeds, especially in the Canterbury region. It is documented as being first naturalised in 1958 and it has been suggested that tour bus drivers deliberately spread seeds of the plant to promote colourful roadside vegetation in areas which some tourists may consider to be rather drab.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} The plant threatens indigenous species especially when it invades the [[Earth:Braided river|braided river]] beds in the South Island.<ref name=DOC>{{cite web|url=http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/threats-and-impacts/weeds/common-weeds-in-new-zealand/russell-lupin/|title=Threats & impacts - Russell lipin|date=June 2007|publisher=Department of Conservation|accessdate=2008-12-22}}</ref>

It is also classed as an [[Earth:Invasive species|invasive species]] in Sweden, {{wipe|Norway}},<ref>{{cite web|title=Faktaark nr. 241 Hagelupin Lupinus polyphyllus|url=http://www2.artsdatabanken.no/faktaark/Faktaark241.pdf|publisher=Artsdatabanken|accessdate=29 July 2015|language=Norwegian}}</ref> {{wipe|Switzerland}}, {{wipe|Argentina}}, the [[Place:Czech Republic|Czech Republic]], {{wipe|Finland}}, Lithuania, and {{wipe|Ukraine}}.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*{{GRIN}}
*[http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Lupinus+polyphyllus Plants of British Columbia: ''Lupinus polyphyllus'']
* [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Lupinus+polyphyllus Jepson Flora Project: ''Lupinus polyphyllus'']
*[http://lupins-bk.blogspot.com/ Lupins - geography, classification, genetic resources]
*[http://lupin-fin.blogspot.com/2007/01/perennial-forms-of-washington-lupin-for.html Perennial forms of Washington lupin (''L. polyphyllus'' Lindl.) for effective use in Finland]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q159737}}

[[Category:Lupinus|polyphyllus]]
[[Category:Garden plants]]

{{Sourceattribution|Lupinus polyphyllus}}