Why does purple dominate in lupin fields? Biology and the bees, says scientist
Global News
About 30 years ago, the Prince Edward Island government tried unsuccessfully to eradicate the flowers. Now, lupin-covered fields and hillsides are a staple in tourism.
In downtown St. John’s, N.L., this summer, motorists have been treated to a rare botanical sight — a plume of pink lupins growing at the heart of a hectic intersection.
Dense swirls of purple, pink and white are not uncommon along roadsides across Atlantic Canada as lupins come into bloom, but most of those fields are dominated by purple — and after a few summers, the colour seems to take over completely.
The careful cluster of pink in the St. John’s gardens tended by retired neurosurgeon William Pryse-Phillips may also succumb to purple over the years, the 86-year-old acknowledged in a recent interview. “Though I may not live to see it,” he added, laughing.
The type of lupin that spreads across fields and takes over roadside slopes each year is the large-leaf lupin, and they’re considered invasive, said Jason McCallum, a scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
They arrived in Atlantic Canada from western North America much like they arrived in the middle of St. John’s: gardeners were taken by their tall, bobbing clusters of pastel-coloured flowers and decided to plant some seeds, McCallum said in a recent interview. The flowers are part of the pea family, and they ultimately produce dozens of pods, each with its own row of seeds.
With so many seeds from just one flower, a small cluster of lupins can produce hundreds of seeds, which are then blown around by the wind. They take hold easily, even in poor-quality dirt, which explains their abundance in the dry, dusty soil along highways, McCallum said.
“You start out with a few plants, and then the next thing you know, hundreds and hundreds of metres of the roadside is just completely engulfed in lupins,” he said.
About 30 years ago, the Prince Edward Island government tried unsuccessfully to eradicate the flowers, McCallum said.
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