BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Lupinus sericeus | Silky Lupine 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Silky lupine is a native, perennial, cool-season forb [39,40].  Simple
or branched stems arise from a woody caudex.  Plants are generally 8 to
20 inches (20-50 cm) tall.  Leaves are mostly basal and have seven to
nine leaflets.  The inflorescence is a terminal raceme.  Flowers are
conspicuously hairy on the dorsal side of the banner.  Pods contain
three to seven seeds [11,12,41].  Silky lupine has a deeply buried root
system [35].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Chamaephyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Silky lupine most often reproduces by seed [6,35,39].  The seeds are
heavy and are not widely dispersed.  They will germinate in full sun or
partial shade.  Silky lupine is not rhizomatous but will sprout from the
caudex [35].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Silky lupine is found on dry, rocky sites on gentle to steep slopes and
in open woods [7,11,19].  It grows best in dry, sandy, loamy,
sandy-loam, and clayey-loam soils.  It does not grow well in clay or
other organic, acid, or sodic-saline soils.  Silky lupine has been found
to 10,000 feet (3,030 m) elevation in Colorado and Utah [6].

Some species commonly associated with silky lupine include Gambel oak
(Quercus gambelii), common snowberry, ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus),
serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus spp.),
arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), western yarrow (Achillea
millefolium), heartleaf arnica (Arnica cordifolia), pinegrass, bluebunch
wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda),
fescues (Festuca idahoensis and F. scabrella), prairie junegrass
(Koeleria cristata), and sedges (Carex spp.) [16,25,33].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Silky lupine can persist under partial shade, but its cover increases
with more sunlight and less competition [35].  It has greater abundance
in early seral stages of plant succession in the Wallowa-Snake Province,
Oregon [16].  Silky lupine is also present in late seral
Douglas-fir/pinegrass habitats in Idaho [35], and in climax ponderosa
pine forests throughout the western United States [42].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Silky lupine is a cool-season species [40].  In western Montana, growth
begins in May and flowering occurs from June through July.  Seed
dissemination takes place in August, and plants are dried by the end of
that month [28].  Throughout its range, silky lupine generally flowers
from June through August or September [6].

Related categories for Species: Lupinus sericeus | Silky Lupine