Bluebonnet lupins, notably the Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) are the state flower ofTexas, USA. The species are mostly herbaceous perennial plants 0.3–1.5 m (0.98–4.9 ft) tall, but some are annual plants and a few are shrubs up to 3 m (10 ft) tall—see also bush lupin—with one species (Lupinus jaimehintoniana from the Mexican state of Oaxaca) a tree up to 8 m (26 ft) high with a trunk 20 cm (7.9 in) in diameter. They have a characteristic and easily recognised leaf shape, with soft green to grey-green leaves which in many species bear silvery hairs, often densely so. The leaf blades are usually palmately divided into 5–28 leaflets or reduced to a single leaflet in a few species of the southeastern United States. The flowers are produced in dense or open whorls on an erect spike, each flower 1–2 cm long, with a typical peaflower shape with an upper 'standard' or 'banner', two lateral 'wings' and two lower petalsfused as a 'keel'. Due to the flower shape, several species are known as bluebonnetsor quaker bonnets. The fruit is a pod containing several seeds.
Why not get some for your own garden today!
Photograph Details: Nikon D40, focal length 185mm, ISO-200, exp: 1/200, f4.8
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