Wildflower (forb) · Fabaceae
Arctic lupine
Lupinus arcticus
Arctic lupine is recorded as native to 1 state or territory in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 13 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Arctic lupine at a glance
- Native in
- 13 counties, across 1 state or territory
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a PLANTS minimum temperature −62°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Moisture use not recorded
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 1a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −62°F; zone 1a winters bottom out at −60°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Arctic lupine is recorded as native to 1 state or territory in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 13 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 13 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 13 where it is listed.
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK
- Bethel Census Area, AK
- Anchorage Municipality, AK
- Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK
- Nome Census Area, AK
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK
- Northwest Arctic Borough, AK
- North Slope Borough, AK
- Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, AK
- Chugach Census Area, AK
- Copper River Census Area, AK
- Denali Borough, AK
Native counties by state
- Alaska 13 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Not recorded
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Decumbent
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Not recorded
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 100 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Not recorded
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −62°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- Not recorded
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Blue
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Yellow
Other
- Toxicity
- Severe
- Nitrogen fixation
- Low
- Nursery availability
- Not recorded
- Family
- Fabaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LUAR2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Lupinus arcticus (PLANTS symbol LUAR2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources