Miniature lupine

Lupinus bicolor, miniature lupine or pygmy-leaved lupine, is a small annual herb in the family Fabaceae native to western North America, from British Columbia south through California and into Baja California, with scattered occurrences eastward. It grows 10–40 cm tall, with slender, sparsely branched, softly hairy stems arising from a slim taproot. The leaves are alternate, long-petioled, and palmately compound, with five to seven (occasionally up to nine) narrowly oblanceolate leaflets 1–3 cm long, glabrous to silky-hairy and often folded along the midrib. Inflorescences are slender erect racemes 2–10 cm long held above the foliage, bearing whorls of small pea-like flowers about 6–10 mm long. The distinctive bicoloured flowers have a deep blue to violet banner with a contrasting white patch at the base that turns reddish-purple after pollination, while the keel and wings are pale blue. Fruits are short, hairy, two- to several-seeded legumes that dehisce explosively at maturity. It flowers from early spring into early summer.