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| Life form: |
| Herbaceous perennial |
| Stems: |
| unbranched stem, alternate, palmate leaves with long petioles and 10-15 narrowly oblong (lanceolate), 1-2 cm broad leaflets; stems and petioles with rather sparse, short hairs. |
| Leaves: |
| Alternate, Palmately compound, glabrous or sparsely hairy |
| Flowers: |
| blue or violet blue, but can be white, pink or violet |
| Flowering Period: |
| June-July |
| Fruits: |
| Hairy pods contain 4-10 (12) seeds which are spread a short distance around the mother plants when the pods open explosively. |
| Habitat: |
| Roadsides, railway embankment and settlements |
Derivation of the botanical name:
Lupinus from the Latin lupus, "wolf," alluding to the belief that these plants robbed the soil, which is the opposite of the truth.
polyphyllus, poly, "many, frequent, much", phyllo, "leaf", the name refers to the many leaflets.
- The standard author abbreviation Lindl. is used to indicate John Lindley (1799 – 1865), an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.
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