The basal rosette germinates in the winter for spring blooming; stems single or branching from the base, reaching 2–12-inches tall. A spike-like flower cluster has a few scattered, purple and white blooms. Note the leaves are densely covered on both sides with long, woolly, spreading hairs.

FLOWER: March–May. The flowering stem is usually shorter than the leaves. Flowers bilaterally symmetrical, petals lilac to whitish, edged with reddish-purple; upper banner petal purple with a central white spot, 2 side wing petals have purple edges, and the keel has 2 united, purple-tipped petals; calyx beneath the petals densely, woolly hairy. Fruit a hairy, oblong, straight pod 3/8–5/8-inch long (10–15 mm) containing 2–4 seeds.

LEAVES: Basal, crowded; alternate on stem. Blades palmately compound with a 1 5/8–3 1/8-inch long (4–8 cm), hairy petiole; 5–8 leaflets, 3/8–3/4-inch long (1–2 cm), tips rounded; both surfaces and margins densely covered with long hairs.

HABITAT: Rocky, sandy, clay, loamy soils, open woodlands, fields, roadsides; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine-Gamble oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,400–6,900 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, NM, NV, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: King’s Lupine, L. kingii, in the western half of NM, is also hairy but has spreading stems and pods with only one seed.

NM COUNTIES: Southern NM in low-elevation, arid habitats: Catron, Cibola, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra, Socorro, Santa Fe.