Blue Sandhill Lupine
Lupinus diffusus
Found in longleaf pine sandhills, sandy roadsides. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 1.5–3 feet
- Spread
- 2–3 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry to average
Space about 2.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 16 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Biennial or perennial
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Bloom
- March to May
- Fruiting season
- June to July
Recorded in 5 Alabama counties.
Habitats
Sandhills; roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
25CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Lupinus
- Apantesis phylliraPhyllira Tiger Moth
- Caenurgina crassiusculaForage Looper Moth, Clover Looper, Range Grass Moth
- Caenurgina erechteaClover Looper Moth, Common Grass Moth, Forage Looper
- Callophrys henriciHenry's Elfin
- Callophrys irusThe Hoary Elfin, Bog Elfin?, Frosted Elfin
- Colias eurythemeOrange Sulphur, Alfalfa Butterfly
- Colias philodiceClouded Sulphur, Clover Butterfly
- Cupido comyntasEastern Tailed-Blue
- Elasmopalpus lignosellaLesser Cornstalk Borer
- Euclidia cuspideaToothed Somberwing
Show all 25
- Feltia jaculiferaDingy Cutworm
- Gesta baptisiaeWild Indigo Duskywing, Baptisia Duskywing
- Glaucopsyche lygdamusSilvery Blue
- Grapholita tristriganaThree-Lined Grapholita
- Oedemasia concinnaRed-Humped Caterpillar, Red-Humped Appleworm
- Seirarctia echoEcho Moth
- Spodoptera dolichosSweetpotato Armyworm, Dolichos Armyworm, Large Cotton Armyworm
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Trichoplusia niNi Moth, Cabbage Looper Moth
- Uresiphita reversalisGenista Caterpillar, Genista Cbroom Moth
- Utetheisa ornatrixOrnate Moth, Pink Underwing, Rattlebox Moth, Bella Moth
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Vanessa virginiensisAmerican Lady, American Painted Lady
- Anacampsis lupinella
11BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Lupinus
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
1Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Lupinus
- Megachile melanophaea
11BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Lupinus
- Alectoris chukarChukar
- Antigone canadensisSandhill Crane
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
- Callipepla gambeliiGambel's Quail
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
- Junco hyemalisDark-eyed Junco
- Lagopus mutaRock Ptarmigan
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Melozone crissalisCalifornia Towhee
- Zonotrichia atricapillaGolden-crowned Sparrow
Show all 11
- Zonotrichia leucophrysWhite-crowned Sparrow
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–10b
- Soil pH
- Acidic
- Flower color
- Blue or white
- Fruit begins
- June
- Fruit ends
- July
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “March to May” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Blue or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Fruit begins · “June” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Hardiness · “Zones 4a–10b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “1.5–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Leaves · “Evergreen” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Biennial or perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “2–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: South Central (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications