VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Lupinus caudatus | Tailcup Lupine 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Tailcup lupine is readily to moderately available within its range and
is consumed to a moderate to high degree by elk, mule deer, whitetail
deer, antelope, upland game birds, small nongame birds, and small
mammals [8].  On the Columbia Plateau in north-central Oregon, tailcup
lupine comprised 70.9 percent of all forb shoots consumed by pocket
gophers in June.  Leaves were also heavily utilized [7].
 
Tailcup lupine is also utilized by sheep, cattle, and horses [8,45].


PALATABILITY : 
Palatability of tailcup lupine is rated as poor to fair for cattle and
horses and fair for sheep [8].  The early vegetative foliage and
immature pods are more palatable to sheep than mature vegetation,
probably corresponding to a relatively low alkaloid content early in the
growing season [30].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Nutritional values of stems and leaves of tailcup lupine at different
developmental stages have been reported [27].


COVER VALUE : 
Tailcup lupine provides fair to good cover for small nongame birds and
small mammals [8].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Tailcup lupine's ability to fix nitrogen allows it to colonize soils of
low fertility.  At high-altitude sites in Utah and Montana, it had the
highest average acetylene reduction activity per plant compared to other
nitrogen-fixing species [17].  

In the Boise River Watershed in Idaho, tailcup lupine was not useful in
controlling erosion because it does not have a mat-forming root system.
The areas dominated by invader species, including tailcup lupine, were
those most susceptible to erosion due to high utilization by livestock
[36].  Overall, tailcup lupine has been given a medium to low rating for
erosion control, and a high to low rating for its use in long-term
revegetation in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana [8].  The lupine
genus as a whole has possiblities for use in management, but more
information is needed on the response of the genus to withstand
disturbance in a wide range of habitats [18].
 


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
A drug has been extracted from tailcup lupine for use in controlling
cardiac arrhythmia [41].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Tailcup lupine is highly toxic to livestock, especially to sheep
[20,32,42,45].  It is less toxic to cattle and horses [20], but causes
calf deformities if ingested by cows between 40 to 70 days gestation
[16,25,44].  It produces quinolizidine alkaloids which affect the
nervous system [25,30].  The alkaloid content of aboveground vegetative
parts peaks in mid-June at 0.9 percent and decreases to 0.2 percent in
August, during the pod stage.  Alkaloid content of seeds ranges from 2.3
to 9.5 percent, making them highly toxic [30].  Lupines (Lupinus spp.)
are responsible for more losses of sheep in Montana, Idaho, and Utah
than any other plant genus [20,32].  Tailcup lupine is one of the most
poisonous of the lupine species.  In the seed stage it is probably the
most toxic member of the genus [16,44].  Plants are toxic from ay least
the beginning of spring growth until they dry in late summer [16,28,44].
Dry plants are probably poisonous as well [20].  Sheep are poisoned by
ingesting 0.13 to 0.25 pound (0.06-0.11 kg) daily for 3 to 4 days.
Cattle usually graze tailcup lupine only when other forage is not
available.  Ingestion of 1 to 1.5 pounds of tailcup lupine (0.45-0.68
kg) daily will poison cattle.  The symptoms associated with tailcup
lupine poisoning have been described in detail [20,41,44,45].  It is
apparently not toxic to wildlife [8,23,45].

Tailcup lupine increases under intensive grazing and is most abundant
under poor to fair range conditions [28,47,51].  It often forms nearly
pure stands in overgrazed areas [47].  Poisoning of livestock occurs
when poor range management has resulted in overgrazing and depletion of
preferred rangeland species [25].  Tailcup lupine is unlikely to be
dangerous under normal range conditions [20].  Where lupine species are
common, rangeland should be utilized when other forage is abundant, and
especially when lupines are not in fruit [44,45].  Tailcup lupine has
been controlled with the application of various esters of 2,4-D and
2,4,5-T [6,16,24,28].  Plants should be sprayed after they are
approximately 5 inches (12.7 cm) tall, but before they bloom [16,44].
After spraying, grazing should be deferred to let desirable species
occupy the range [28].

Tailcup lupine is common in pine types (Pinus jeffreyi and P.
ponderosa) in northeastern California.  Frequency of tailcup lupine on
40-year-old units given various silvicultural methods was as
follows [50]:

      Silvicultural Method          Frequency (%)

     sanitation salvage                  20
     moderate selection cut              24
     heavy selection cut                 10
     clearcut                            <1            

Lupines (L. caudatus and L. sericeus) responded with minor changes in
canopy cover to different management regimes in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga
menziesii)/pinegrass (Calamagrostis rubescens) habitat types in central
Idaho.  Plants decreased slightly in cover, but seedlings established
when stands were selectively cut or clearcut followed by mechanical
scarification.  There was a slight vegetative increase in stands that
were clearcut with no site preparation.  Seedling establishment and
increased cover were evident in stands destroyed by wildfire and in
stands that were clearcut followed by broadcast burning [39].

Related categories for Species: Lupinus caudatus | Tailcup Lupine