Common Name(s): Silver Dune Lupine

Scientific Name: Lupinus chamissonis

Family: Fabaceae – the Pea family

Plant Type: perennial shrub

Size: up to 6 feet fall

Silver dune lupine must have an incredibly strong root system that is ready for big changes that happen quickly. In a dunes landscape the soil is ever shifting, poorly nutritious, and drained of water.

The lupine is a familiar flower seen throughout California. It is a part of the pea family and is a nitrogen-fixing legume. Bacteria in nodules on the roots fix the nitrogen allowing it to act as a natural fertilizer. This helps perpetuate other plants in the nutrient deficient dunes soil.

The silver dune lupine grows from 4-6 feet tall. The plant has silvery gray stems and foliage year-round. It grows along the coast, especially along the dune areas, from Los Angeles to San Francisco. It needs perfect drainage, but tolerates nutrient poor soil, sea spray, and is drought tolerant.

In the spring the plant erupts 5 inch spikes of blue to violet colored flowers producing the beautiful lupine life plant we all recognize.

The silver dune lupine attracts birds and beneficial insects to its pea shaped blossoms. During the spring caterpillars are likely found hiding in the foliage. This in addition to its ability to thrive in nutrient poor soil make it an important part of the dunes flora.

In a garden environment it tends to do poorly most often due to overwatering and too rich of a soil substrate. They can also be very susceptible to slug and snail damage when young.
You can view this species at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center Community Garden, at the Dunes Center on Guadalupe St., or in the dunes themselves. Oso Flaco Lake is a great place to view silver dune lupine in its natural setting.

Do you have pictures or anecdotes of Silver Dune Lupine that you would like to share? Please let us know in the comments section below, or submit your photos to [email protected].

The blooming flower of a Lupinus chamissonis