Lupinus polyphyllus
Poisonous plant
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
Russell lupin
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Lilac, Purple, Red/Pink, White, Yellow
Detailed description
Herbaceous perennial; stems sparsely to moderately hairy, erect, branched from base. Leaflets 8~15, usu. glabrous above, sparsely to moderately sericeous below, narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, acute to acuminate, 30-130 x 10-30 mm; stipules oblong-lanceolate, 15~35 mm long. Infl. 15-60 cm tall, many-flowered; peduncle up to 15 cm long. Lower flowers alternate; upper flowers subverticillate; pedicels 5-14mm long. Calyx densely hairy; upper lip shallowly 2-toothed; lower lip slightly longer, entire. Corolla blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow or white, often of 2 colours, slightly scented if at all, 12-20 mm long. Pod densely villous, 5-10-seeded, 30-50 mm long; seeds ellipsoid, smooth, dark brown and somewhat mottled, approx. 2 mm long. (Webb et al., 1988)
Habitat
Terrestrial. Establishes in waste places and lowland areas, streams, riverbeds and disturbed montane to subalpine areas.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
September, October, November, December, January, February
Year naturalised
1958
Origin
N. America
Reason for introduction
Ornamental; now seriously invasive in South Canterbury, especially in gravel river beds and on road verges. See article on NZ Geographic magazine.
Tolerances
Highly tolerant of frost and poor drainage; slightly tolerant of shade and intolerant of drought. Can resprout from the base after physical damage and grazing (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Non vegetatively spreading perennial with some plants reaching 50 years (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Germination of seed occurs in autumn and spring (ibid.). Seed is produced at 200-1 000 kg/ha. Seeds remain viable for 10 or more years (ibid.). Explosive mechanism, humans, tourists, waterways (particularly in floods) (ibid.).
Other information
Poisonous plant
The seed are poisonous if they are chewed or crushed before eating.
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
LUPPOL