Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Friday - January 23, 2009

From: Penngrove, CA
Region: California
Topic: Invasive Plants
Title: The invasiveness of Lupinus arboreus
Answered by: Nan Hampton and Joe Marcus

QUESTION:

Hi, Researching Lupinus arboreus, I found that it is considered a serious invasive in Northern California coastal areas, especially Humbolt Bay. Scotch broom, of course, is an awful pest on the coast as well as inland in California, but I would hope no one would replace it with Yellow beach lupine, which besides spreading rapidly, changes soil composition which encourages other weeds, and interbreeds with other lupines, threatening the species' purity. So I hope you will explain this on your site. Thanks. M.L. Carle Invasives chair, Sonoma County chapter of California Native Plant Society

ANSWER:

You are right. Lupinus arboreus (yellow bush lupine) is an interesting example of a plant being both native to and invasive in a single state - in this case, California. We have noted the species' special, troublesome characteristics in our NPIN Plants Database record for that species.