Photo: Wildflower Pictures

Yellow Tree Lupins are a wildflower which grows in abundance along the roadside in Central Otago.

Growing up to 2 metres tall, the Yellow Tree Lupin is a rapidly growing wildflower or rather a shrub which grows erect, 15-25 cm racemes of fragrant sulphur yellow to bright yellow pea-like flowers. The flowers are formed in whorls along the long stems.

This wildflower is an aggressive self seeder and can be considered an invasive weed. It will colonise sand dunes, gravelly riverbeds, and roadsides. Despite its invasive tendancies, the pungent but beautiful fragrance of the pea-like wildflowers which the shrub produces wafts in the air during the heat Central Otago summer months.

Yellow Tree Lupins, Lupinus arboreus, Lake Hawea, Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand.

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