Lupinus nanus is a species of lupin

Lupin

Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins or lupines , is a genus in the legume family . The genus comprises about 280 species , with major centers of diversity in South and western North America , and the Andes and secondary centers in the Mediterranean region and Africa Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins...

e native to the western United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It grows naturally in chaparral clearings and along slopes in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, and on Steens Mountain

Steens Mountain

Steens Mountain is a large fault-block mountain in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. Located in Harney County, it stretches some and rises from an elevation of about above the Alvord Desert to its peak at...

 in eastern Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

.

There are three accepted subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of Lupinus nanus http://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=profile&symbol=LUNA3&display=31:

• Lupinus nanus subsp. latifolius (Benth. ex Torr.) D.Dunn
• Lupinus nanus subsp. menkerae (C.P.Sm.) D.Dunn (commonly called Menker's lupine)
• Lupinus nanus subsp. nanus

L. nanus is often found in mixed populations with Lupinus bicolor

Lupinus bicolor

Lupinus bicolor is a species of lupine known as the miniature lupine, Lindley's annual lupine, or bicolor lupine. It is a showy flowering plant native to western North America from California to British Columbia. It is an annual lupine which often shares a habitat with the California poppy. It has...

, Lupinus pachylobus, Lupinus micranthus, and Lupinus vallicola (some of these species are not currently recognized as distinct taxa in the Jepson Manual).

External links

• USDA profile of Lupinus nanus
• Jepson Manual entry of Lupinus nanus
• Photo gallery