Native Americans - Garden Plants – Lupin

Name - Lupin, which for reasons that are not adequately clear, are often spelled lupine in North America, is the common name for members of the genus Lupinus which has about 150-200 different species, and has a wide distribution in Americas from where the sub genus platycarpos originates.

Description – This perennial can range from a foot to five feet tall, although there are one or two rare and difficult to obtain Lupinus shubs that grow to ten feet. There are two distinctive features to the plants, the easily recognised leaf shape and colour: soft green to grey-green or silvery leaves divided into five to seventeen finger-like leaflets that diverge from a central point – in addition in many species, the leaves are hairy, and the flowers which are produced in dense or open whorls on an erect spike, each flower being around half an inch to an inch long with a typical pea flower shape in many colours, including the ever popular bi-colours

Origins - Lupin perene (the Virginian Lupin) was introduced from North America into England at around 1637. Some claim it was one of the plants brought back by John Tradescant the younger from his voyage to Virginia, although there is no documentary evidence of this. By 1658 it was growing in the Oxford Botanic Garden, but it had ‘poore colour’ and so never became popular, although it does have the distinction of being the first North American lupin to reach England. Like most members of the genus, lupins fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into ammonia, fertilising the soil for other plants, which makes them wonderful soil improvers and it is good to grow them in ground that has been previously harbouring plants that deplete the soil like Marigolds and Zinnias. Over rich soil tends to produce an abundance of foliage at the expense of blooms. Those with pets and small children should be aware that the lupin is also considered to be a mild but real risk in regard to livestock poisoning, although the risk is low due to horrible taste of the plant. Symptoms are staggering, inability to stand unsupported and convulsions and some varieties can cause reproductive disorders which is why the plant was used to try and obtain miscarriages in the bad old days – the whole plant seeds, pods and young leaves is toxic.

America Lupin photograph by Madzik, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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