Index    Yucca   Pigweed   Big Sagebrush  Goosefoot   Juniper   Lupine   Common Bean   Piñon Pine   Corn   Purslane   Tobacco

---

Lupinus decumbens   Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. Illustrated flora of the northern states and Canada. Vol. 2: 348.

Lupine

Navajo Name: Azee' bíni'í, "wondering about medicine"

Classification: 236 genera in Fabaceae, 165 species in Lupinus, 356 accepted taxa overall

Species:   

• Silvery lupine, Lupinus argenteus
• King's Lupine, Lupinus kingii S. Wats.
• Dwarf Mountain Lupine, Lupinus lyallii Gray
• Rusty Lupine, Lupinus pusillus Pursh
• Intermountain Lupine, Lupinus pusillus ssp. intermontanus (Heller) D. Dunn

Ceremonies: Male Shooting Chant

Ritual Use:

• used in the Male Shooting Chant (Elmore 1944: 56)
• leaves used as a ceremonial emetic. Leaves used as life medicine (Vestal 1952: 32)
• at Hopi, Rusty Lupine juice used as holy water in the Po-wa-mu ceremony  (Colton 1974:333)

Medicine: 

• cold infusion of leaves used as a lotion on poison ivy blisters (Vestal 1952: 32)
• at Hopi, King's Lupine used as an eye medicine (Whiting 1939: 33, 80)
• Dwarf Mountain Lupine used for boils (Elmore 1944: 97)
• at Hopi, Rusty Lupine used as an ear and eye medicine (Colton 1974:333)
• Intermountain Lupine used for earaches and nosebleeds (Wyman and Harris 1951: 28)

Food: 

• none cited

Other Uses: 

• Intermountain Lupine used as a fumigant ingredient (Wyman and Harris 1951: 28)
• flowers used to make a blue dye, also used to make a green dye (Elmore 1944: 57)

References: 

• Colton 1974:333
• Elmore 1944: 56-57, 97
• Mayes and Lacy 1989:60
• Vestal 1952: 32
• Whiting 1939: 33, 80
• Wyman and Harris 1951: 28