While I was on another stroll through Edna Taylor
Conservation Park, I was pondering the sea of green- cattails growing in the
marsh, leaves out on the trees- when I suddenly came upon a sea of purple. The
wild lupines (Lupinus perennis) are
in full bloom in this park and elsewhere too! I appreciate the lupines for
their beautiful purple spikes of flowers, but that’s not all they’re good for.
As members of the pea family, which in turn belongs to the group of legumes,
these plants are capable of supporting nitrogen-fixing bacteria in root
nodules. This is an amazing relationship in nature in which the bacteria can
“fix” gaseous nitrogen from the air and convert it into forms of nitrogen that
the plant can use. This is especially handy if the plant is growing in a nutrient
poor environment. I didn’t dig up the plants to see if there were root nodules,
but as I walked away, I also thought about the endangered karner blue
butterfly, which depends on lupines. Hopefully the karner blues of Wisconsin
are also enjoying the blooming lupines!
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