Lupine is in the Pea Family. There are at least 40 species of Lupine that grow in Washington and Oregon. They can be found from the alpine regions right down to the shore of the Salish Sea.
Lupine is a derivative of the Latin “lupus”…which refers to the wolf and the misconception, when the plant was named, that lupines “wolf” nutrients from the soil.
The 2009 Vascular Plant List of the Baker Preserve Trail composed by the Washington Native Plant Society (https://www.wnps.org/plant-lists) includes both native and non-native plants but does not mention any variety of Lupine. They must have been hiding when the society’s volunteers were here. I think many of us have spotted Lupine near the top of that trail.
These plants were not photographed on that trail, but rather, in a pasture on the west side of the island. They were most likely introduced and may have come in with a batch of hay from off-island. I have not noticed them in that pasture previously.
In addition to the 40 or so species that grow wild in the Northwest there are also hybridized versions with spectacularly large and colorful spikes of flowers created just for gardeners. Hybridized varieties have escaped to populate hayfields and meadows. Many of us have appreciated colorful displays of Lupine at the Slater/I-5 intersection and in the open fields of Hovander Park.
The lupine plant is toxic to humans and livestock. However, the white lupine bean has been grown for human consumption since at least Roman times.
Dal Neitzel