Lady Lupine
Lupinus villosus
Found in longleaf pine sandhills, sandy roadsides and disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
77
Strong
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- Up to about 2 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual or perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- March to May
- Fruiting season
- June to August
JFMAMJJASOND
Not yet recorded · Spread
Recorded in 38 Florida counties.
Habitats
Sandhills; roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
27CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Lupinus
- Apantesis phylliraPhyllira Tiger Moth
- Apantesis placentiaPlacentia Tiger Moth
- Caenurgina crassiusculaForage Looper Moth, Clover Looper, Range Grass Moth
- Caenurgina erechteaClover Looper Moth, Common Grass Moth, Forage Looper
- Callophrys henriciHenry's Elfin
- Celastrina neglectaSummer Azure
- Colias eurythemeOrange Sulphur, Alfalfa Butterfly
- Colias philodiceClouded Sulphur, Clover Butterfly
- Cupido comyntasEastern Tailed-Blue
- Elasmopalpus lignosellaLesser Cornstalk Borer
Show all 27
- Euclidia cuspideaToothed Somberwing
- Euxoa auxiliarisArmy Cut-Worm, Army Cutworm
- Feltia jaculiferaDingy Cutworm
- Gesta baptisiaeWild Indigo Duskywing, Baptisia Duskywing
- 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
- Walshia miscecolorellaSweetclover Root Borer Moth
- 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
Growing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 8a–10b
- Flower color
- Blue, purple or red
- Fruit begins
- June
- Fruit ends
- August
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, purple or red” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Fruit begins · “June” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Hardiness · “Zones 8a–10b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “Up to about 2 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Annual or perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- 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 · “Very dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Florida rank | S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
In your garden
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Choose a county to begin.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (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