Lupinus perennis.William S. Justice @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database. Courtesy Smithsonian Institution. (Accessed 4/2014).

Lupinus perennis is a perennial herb 20-60 cm tall. 

Leaves alternate, palmately compound, leaflets 7-11, 2-5 cm long, widest above middle oblanceolate). 

Flowers usually blue, bilaterally symmetrical, pea-flower-shaped, top petal (standard) 1.2-1.6 cm long; inflorescence of racemes 10-20 cm long at top of stem. 

Fruit dry, an oblong, flattened hairy pod 3-5 cm long. Seeds eaten by some birds and small mammals (Martin et al. 1951). 

Wetland status: UPL. 

Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent, if still extant. 

Origin: Native. 

Habitat: Dry, open woods, clearings. 

Notes: Not marked as growing in NYC by USDA, NRCS (2006). Plant and seeds contain toxic alkaloids (Kingsbury 1964).