Common White Lupine
Lupinus Densiflorus, Benth. Pea Family
Stems.—Stout; simple below; parted in the middle into numerous widespreading branches; two feet high; succulent; sparsely villous. Flowers.—In long-peduncled racemes; six to ten inches long; with usually five or six dense whorls. Bracts bristle-like, from a broad base. Calyx.—Upper lip scarious; deeply cleft; lower long, toothed. Corolla.—White or rose-color; seven lines or so long; the standard dark dotted. Pod.—Two-seeded. Hab.—Widespread; Sacramento Valley southward.
In the days when we went fishing in the brook with a pin for minnows, a company of these pretty white lupines in a field represented to our childish fancy so many graceful dames in flounced skirts dancing in a sylvan ballroom.