Lupinus polyphyllus
Encyclopedia
Lupinus polyphyllus is a species of lupin
e (lupin) native to western North America
from southern Alaska
and British Columbia
east to Alberta
and western Wyoming
, and south to Utah
and California
. It commonly grows along streams and creeks, preferring moist habitats.
It is a perennial
herbaceous
plant with stout stems growing to 1.5 metre tall. The leaves
are palmately compound with (5-) 9-17 leaflets 3–15 cm (1.2–5.9 in) long. The flower
s are produced on a tall spike, each flower 1–1.5 cm (0.393700787401575–0.590551181102362 in) long, most commonly blue to purple in wild plants. The polyphyllus variety in particular make up a great number of the hybrids which are generally grown as garden lupins, they can vary dramatically in colours. The majority of lupins do not thrive in rich heavy soils, and often only live for a matter of years if grown in such places, crown contact with manure or rich organic matter encourages rotting.
There are five varieties
:
Over the decades the plants he selected developed flower spikes which were denser, larger and more colourful than the original Lupinus polyphyllus. His work may have gone unrecognised if he had not been encouraged, by another nurseryman called 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
. He 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 attracted 80,000 visitors in June to see 40 acres (16.2 ha) of lupins 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 allele
, and so although Russell might have worked hard to suppress it, lupins left unchecked over several generations will eventually revert back to the old blues. Almost all garden lupins today are hybrids of the true Russell hybrids due to their ease of cross pollinating with one another, and with no special interest in lupin cultivating until recent years it has meant the plants have created a large pool of genetic diversity and variation from the original Russells
.
The templates created by Russell are still used by other specialist lupin horticulturalists today e.g. Maurice and Brian Woodfield, nurserymen from Stratford-upon-Avon
, who received the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal for their work on lupins 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' lupin variety.
. 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 lupin we've seen so far."
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It is commonly used in garden
s for its attractiveness to bees, ability to improve poor sandy soils with their nitrogen fixing ability and flowers; numerous 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 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 withstanding frost to at least -25 °C and the wild varieties can easily become invasive
and hard to dispose of unless kept in check on a regular basis. 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 cultivar
s of this lupin suitable for fodder
crops have been bred. To avoid restoration of alkaloid synthesis in cross-pollinated species of lupin, 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 lupin 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.
In New Zealand
, where it is known as the Russell lupin, Lupinus polyphyllus is classed as an adventive species
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.
The plant threatens indigenous species especially when it invades the braided river
beds in the South Island.
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 (lupin) native to western North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
from southern Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
east to Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and western Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, and south to Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
and 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...
. It commonly grows along streams and creeks, preferring moist habitats.
It is a perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
herbaceous
Herbaceous
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
plant with stout stems growing to 1.5 metre tall. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are palmately compound with (5-) 9-17 leaflets 3–15 cm (1.2–5.9 in) long. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are produced on a tall spike, each flower 1–1.5 cm (0.393700787401575–0.590551181102362 in) long, most commonly blue to purple in wild plants. The polyphyllus variety in particular make up a great number of the hybrids which are generally grown as garden lupins, they can vary dramatically in colours. The majority of lupins do not thrive in rich heavy soils, and often only live for a matter of years if grown in such places, crown contact with manure or rich organic matter encourages rotting.
There are five varieties
Variety (biology)
In botanical nomenclature, variety is a taxonomic rank below that of species: as such, it gets a three-part infraspecific name....
:
- 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
Russell Hybrids
The herbaceous lupin, Lupinus polyphyllus, arrived in Britain from North America in the 1820s brought over by David Douglas. Almost a century later, George Russell, a 53-year-old horticulturalist from UK York started to breed the famous Russell hybrids (Lupinus X russellii hort). Lupinus polphyllus originally were 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-mindedly trying to breed the perfect lupin, crossing L. polyphyllus with L. arboreus and one or more annual species (maybe L. nootkatensis).Over the decades the plants he selected developed flower spikes which were denser, larger and more colourful than the original Lupinus polyphyllus. His work may have gone unrecognised if he had not been encouraged, by another nurseryman called 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
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
's June show in 1937 – where their brightly coloured, tightly packed spires won awards
. He 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 attracted 80,000 visitors in June to see 40 acres (16.2 ha) of lupins 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 allele
Allele
An allele is one of two or more forms of a gene or a genetic locus . "Allel" is an abbreviation of allelomorph. Sometimes, different alleles can result in different observable phenotypic traits, such as different pigmentation...
, and so although Russell might have worked hard to suppress it, lupins left unchecked over several generations will eventually revert back to the old blues. Almost all garden lupins today are hybrids of the true Russell hybrids due to their ease of cross pollinating with one another, and with no special interest in lupin cultivating until recent years it has meant the plants have created a large pool of genetic diversity and variation from the original Russells
.
The templates created by Russell are still used by other specialist lupin horticulturalists today e.g. Maurice and Brian Woodfield, nurserymen from Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
, who received the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal for their work on lupins 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' lupin variety.
. 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 lupin we've seen so far."
Cultivation and uses
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s for its attractiveness to bees, ability to improve poor sandy soils with their nitrogen fixing ability and flowers; numerous cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
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 L. arboreus
Lupinus arboreus
Lupinus arboreus is a species of lupine native to the western United States in California, where it is widely distributed among coastal scrub and sand dunes...
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 withstanding frost to at least -25 °C and the wild varieties can easily become invasive
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
and hard to dispose of unless kept in check on a regular basis. 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 cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s of this lupin suitable for fodder
Fodder
Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...
crops have been bred. To avoid restoration of alkaloid synthesis in cross-pollinated species of lupin, 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 lupin 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.
Invasive species
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where it is known as the Russell lupin, Lupinus polyphyllus is classed as an adventive species
Adventive species
An Adventive species is one that has arrived in the geographical area specified from somewhere else by any means , but is not self-sustaining and whose numbers are only increased through non-reproductive means, unlike a naturalised species.-See also:*Naturalisation *Introduced species*Invasive...
and covers large areas next to roadsides, pastures and riverbeds, especially in the Canterbury region
Canterbury, New Zealand
The New Zealand region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. Its main city, Christchurch, hosts the main office of the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Regional Council - called Environment Canterbury - and the University of Canterbury.-...
. 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.
The plant threatens indigenous species especially when it invades the braided river
Braided river
A braided river is one of a number of channel types and has a channel that consists of a network of small channels separated by small and often temporary islands called braid bars or, in British usage, aits or eyots. Braided streams occur in rivers with high slope and/or large sediment load...
beds in the South Island.