My sandyland bluebonnets (Lupinus subcarnosus) are flowering! Yippie, the first bluebonnets blooming at our house! And, what a show they are.
Lupinus subcarnosus flowering at our house.
All four of them. #sarcasm
I guess something went wrong with their germination? Last fall, I scarified the seeds with a fingernail clipper since I didn’t have very many and soaked them in water overnight. I counted about a dozen that germinated, but these few are the only survivors left. Hopefully, they will spawn more next year.
Eventually, this scene is what I want.
Last spring, Karen and I ventured out to Chireno, TX to see Peter Loos’s patch of sandyland bluebonnets. My seeds last fall came from Peter’s population.
When people think of bluebonnets, they usually conjure images like the following of Lupinus texensis.
A swath of Lupinus texensis blooms alongside a Texas Hill County highway.
However, Lupinus subcarnosus is lesser known and native to east Texas and Louisiana. Lupinus texensis has a broader distribution west. You can easily identify the two. Lupinus texensis has a tuft of white at the top, which earned it the name el conejo or the rabbit from the Spanish settlers who saw it. This tuft is absent on Lupinus subcarnosus because the flowers are more spaced apart on the apex. Most people think Lupinus texensis is more showy due to the dense blooms on the raceme. I find some humor in this preference because it was actually Lupinus subcarnosus that was first adopted as the state wildflower. Finally, all bluebonnets were lumped under that title in 1971.
Either way, both flowers remind me of blue Yoshi from the Mario games.
Blue Yoshi!
Now you can’t unsee blue Yoshi, can you? Note the banner spot color change on the lower flowers.
And, the white spots on the banner petal will change to a reddish-purple color with age on both species. For Lupinus texensis the color change happens around 6 days after opening, which is believed to be a signal for pollinators. Researchers have noted that around 95% of bee visits are while the spot is still white, and the pollen count drops precipitously after 6 days. I assume these pollination dynamics are similar for the closely related Lupinus subcarnosus.
From the looks of it, my four plants have a few purple spots on them indicating I should see seed in a few weeks. That’s a good start to having more.