Lupinus hillii Greene
Hill’s lupine
Hill’s lupine is quite rare, since I cannot find much of anything about it on the web. It is found in the United States only in Arizona and New Mexico. These photos were taken along the west fork of the Oak Creek Trail, nestled deeply in a cool damp canyon near Sedona.
Plants: Plants may be erect or nearly horizontal. Stems have a fine covering of short hairs. The hairs are barely noticeable, so many accounts describe the stems as hairless.
Leaves: Leaves are palmately compound, with 5-9 leaflets. Leaf edges, tips, and undersides are finely hairy.
Flowers: A bit smaller than flowers on other lupines, about ¼″ (6.3 mm) long, and clustered toward the top third of the stem. Flowers are bluish purple, with a reddish-purple patch in the center of the banner. They are whorled around the stems. Flowers appear from May to September.
Fruits: Hairy legume pods dry to dark brown.
Habitats: In the United States only in Arizona and New Mexico, at elevations of 1.1–1.7 mi (1.8–2.7 km), in Ponderosa pine forests. These photos were taken along the west fork of the Oak Creek Trail, nestled deeply in a cool damp canyon near Sedona.
Online References:
5/23/2009 · West Fork of Oak Creek Trail, Arizona · ≈ 5 × 3″ (12 × 7.8 cm) 
5/23/2009 · West Fork of Oak Creek Trail, Arizona · ≈ 5 × 4″ (13 × 10 cm) 
5/23/2009 · West Fork of Oak Creek Trail, Arizona · ≈ 13 × 9″ (33 × 22 cm) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Rosidae | Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more |
| Order | Fabales | Legumes (pea and bean families) |
| Family | Fabaceae | Legume family (peas and beans) |
| Genus | Lupinus | “Wolf,” because of the mistaken belief that lupines ravage land they grow on; in fact, they contribute nutrients |
| Species | hillii | Named for Robert Roy Hill (1885-1973) |
Lupinus hillii description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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