Secret Meaning: Imagination or voraciousness
The Bluebonnet or Blue Bonnet are in the family of wild lupines, abundantly found in the Sierra Mountains of California and Nevada.
Seeds of various species of lupins have been used as a food for over 3000 years around the Mediterranean and for as much as 6000 years in the Andean highlands, but they have never been accorded the same status as soybeans or dry peas and other pulse crops.
There are many common names for wild lupine: Wild Pea, Wild Bean, Blue Pea, Old Maid’s Bonnet, Quaker-Bonnet, Bluebonnet, and Sundial.
The name Sundial comes from the phototropic habit of the leaves which follow the sun from dawn until dusk finally folding at night to protect them from the chilly nights.
The plant’s Latin name was derived from the Latin lupus (wolf) because it was once thought to deplete or "wolf" the mineral content of the soil. In reality, it is a nitrogen fixer and helps fertilize the soil.
In the 13th century, lupines were used to heal a child’s umbilical cord after it was cut.
The bluebonnet is also the state flower of Texas, the blue bonnet, is one of five species of lupines, all vying for the most popular state flower top spot, all of which bloom in the early to late spring in shades of blue, sometimes with purple and red tips. It is also sometimes known as "buffalo clover." April marks the weekend of Bluebonnet Festivals all over Texas.
Take an a tour of the wild Bluebonnets in Texas and see why this flower earned the state title.
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