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National Park Mystery Plant 3 Revealed: It’s Lupine, and It’s Complicated

Silverstem lupine (Lupinus argenteus), one of the many lupine varieties that dot the Western landscape.

It didn’t take long for Traveler readers to figure out the answer to yesterday'squiz.National Park Mystery Plant 3 quiz. Willow quickly identified it as lupine (nice going, Willow), so the mystery was removed right away. Or so I thought. What happened after that has got me thinking that I need to be extra special careful with these mystery plant quizzes from here on out. I need to be on the top of my game.

Traveler readers are sharp. If there is any way to nuance an answer, they will find it. No error of commission or omission will go unchallenged. No stone will be left unturned. The quizmeister will be made to squirm.

Don’t believe it? Consider the commentary this quiz generated. Willow identified the mystery plant as “lupin” and I gently chided that I could only give partial credit. I would have to dock a few points for misspelling, you see. But then I was reminded in a personal communication that lupin is a perfectly acceptable spelling for the mystery plant. Call it lupine or lupin – it’s all the same. OK, so I went back in and edited out the part about the misspelling. Everything’s honky-dory now, right? Not so fast.

Now Terry chimes in with this rather innocent looking question:

Is lupine the same thing as locoweed or is that a more generic term?

How was I to know that this was a diabolically clever trap? I just waded in with this answer:

Locoweed is a specific type (several species) of poisonous plant, not a generic term for poisonous plants such as lupine, larkspur, and broom snakeweed.

Now Rob Mutch, who was surely a part of this grand conspiracy from the very outset, took his turn. I’ll bet he was grinning from ear to ear as he laid his own little trap. His comment went like this:

Bob, I've photographed Larkspur/Poison Larkspur, known by many other common names and comprising a large group of plants. They are also called "cow poison". I believe it is a native to us here in Oregon. Is this plant related (taxonomically) to lupine?

Did you notice how Rob set me up? When you use a “Bob” greeting like that you're saying, "I’m a friend, you can trust me." Yah, like I can trust that Rottweiler down the street to not chew off my leg if I ever wander into his yard.

Still not getting the drift of this thing, still not realizing that the chute I’m being steered into leads to the slaughter pen, I answer Rob thusly:

They're not of the same family. The lupine (or lupin) is a member of the genus Lupinus in the legume family Fabaceae. Larkspur is the common name for the genus Delphinium (also the genus Consolida) in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. I believe that the variety of larkspur commonly called "cow poison" (and other vernacular names) is the Delphinium glaucom.

I had now provided all of the rope that was needed to hang me. Now tomp could play out his role as the conspiracy’s designated executioner. Here’s what he said -- and so help me, I am not making this up!

Locoweed is a common name for many species of Astragalus. Astragalus species are also in the Fabaceae, also have compound leaves composed of leaflets, also occur in numerous western US NPS units, also are toxic to cattle, goats, sheep, etc.. The reason Astragalus isn't the right answer is that there are many more species of Astragalus than of Lupinus: ITIS lists 39 species of Astragalus where the species name begins with the letter 'a', and over 100 total species. The flora of Utah (at least used to) list ~300 Astragalus species and subspecies.

OK, another slight difference is that most Astragalus are toxic enough (with somewhat different toxins than Lupines) to be somewhat distasteful to cattle, but cattle will eat many species of Astragalus if there's nothing better around. Lupines are tasty enough that they can be preferred over grass. [But, then again, sheep will overeat non-poisonous clover (also Fabaceae), bloat, and die.] The problem with peas (Fabaceae) in general is their soil symbiont can fix nitrogen and thus peas tend to have higher N and protein content, and thus are higher-value food for grazers and browsers. Therefore, natural selection has favored them investing more resources into toxins to prevent or at least reduce their being eaten. Non-native grazers like cows & sheep often haven't evolved to be able to "taste" those toxins, so they taste the high-protein and not the toxins and can poison themselves.]

Locoweed is also the common name for many species of Oxytropis, another legume (Fabaceae). And milkvetch is also a common name for many Astragalus species.

Larkspurs are almost always Delphinium species, in the Ranunculaceae or Ranunculus (buttercup) family, about as distantly related to Fabaceae as there is within the dicots.

??!! Please, did anybody get the license number of that truck that just ran over me?! My ego has been well and truly flattened.

I am left to ponder three questions: Was Willow in on it too? Is there anybody left that I can trust? And what the hell is a dicot, anyway?

Postscript
: in case you didn’t read all the way through yesterday’s mystery plant article and comments, here’s the “school solution.” The mystery plant is the lupine (or lupin). There are an estimated 200 to 500 species of lupine worldwide, but not all are poisonous. In the western U.S. the species posing a danger to livestock (birth defects as well as poisoning) include silky lupine (Lupinus sericeus), tailcup lupine (L. caudatus), velvet lupine (L. leucophyllus), silvery lupine (L. argenteus), yellow lupine (L. sulphureus), and lunara lupine (L. formosus), which is also called summer lupine.

Comments

My daughter lives in eastern Washington and certain Lupine eaten by first year cows/heifers in their first trimester will birth deformes calves. MB


Yes, it's called "crooked calf's disease," and it's a nasty syndrome.


Bob, my question was innocent. I had no intention of setting you up, but I think I'll let either my good friend Rob or willow explain to you what a dicot is.


I enjoyed this mystery!

Dicotyledon (dye-cottle-ee-don)
A member of the class of flowering plants having two seed leaves, or cotyledons, floral organs arranged in cycles of four or five, and leaves with reticulated veins, among other distinguishing features; often abbreviated as dicot. Includes trees (with exception of conifers) and most ornamental and crop plants. Source: http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/glossary/d.html


Thanks, Linda. It's nice to know that the dicots I encounter on the golf course are the trees that my golf balls hit, not the chunks of turf I send flying with my errant swings.


This is the true promise of the internet--a collaborative discussion of a fascinating topic sparked by a well-written article, regardless of where you are located, how knowledgeable you are, or who you are. The only requirement....that you be interested and thoughtful. Thanks Bob.

By the way, Bob was set up, albeit unintentionally (as Terry said). And, I do like the name Bob...my dad was a Bob (and, I, a Rob).

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Mark Twain

rob
--
Executive Director,
Crater Lake Institute
www.craterlakeinstitute.com
Robert Mutch Photography


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