The Desert Lupine's Adaptations

Annual Adaptation

• Desert lupine's dry climate adaptation is the fact that it is an annual plant. It avoids drought by germinating during a short rainy period in the fall, sprouting through winter and blooming after the spring rainy season. This is an adaptation common to many desert flowering plants and is why the desert is carpeted with flowers -- seemingly overnight -- after spring rains. Annual plants are able to take advantage of all the available moisture and turn it into energy for the next generation --seeds -- in a short period of time.

Seed Survival

• Another adaptation is the toughness of the seeds. Seeds will not germinate until they have had large amounts of soaking rain, and even then, some will not germinate until one or more years later. A percentage of desert lupine seeds will almost certainly not germinate for up to 10 years after dissemination. This adaptation allows for long-term survival of the plant, even if an entire year's crop is wiped out by unfavorable conditions or catastrophic weather events.

Ecosystem Ties

• Desert lupines have shallow roots, so their role in the ecosystem is not to hold soil in place. Unlike some other desert plants, they do not store moisture in succulent leaves. The large number of individual flowers on branched stems are pollinated by native bumblebees and other insects, and are important nectar sources for those insects. The poisonous quality of the seeds is probably an adaptation to prevent them from being eaten by animals.

Plant Communities

• In their desert habitats, desert lupines bloom in the spring along with other flowering plants, all of which have desert adaptations. These include plants like showy, yellow-flowered Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata), a rosette-forming biennial or short-lived perennial, hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4b through 10b; and desert mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), hardy in USDA zones 6 through 9. In the case of desert mallow, the gray-green leaves are an adaptation that reflect the bright sunlight.