The herbaceous lupines, up to 1.25 m (4 feet) tall, have low, palmately divided leaves and an upright flower spike. Through hybridization and selection some highly ornamental varieties have been developed. Especially popular in gardens are the Russell hybrids, about 1 m high, with long, dense flower spikes in a wide range of colours. The Texas bluebonnet is a lupine. In Europe and elsewhere tall species of lupines (e.g., white lupine, or wolf bean, Lupinus alba) are planted as a nitrogen-collecting winter cover crop.

The term lupine (sometimes spelled lupin), from the Latin for “wolf,” derives from the mistaken belief that these plants depleted, or “wolfed,” minerals from the soil. The contrary is true, however; lupines aid soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air in a soil form useful for other plants.

Wild lupine (L. perennis) and Nuttal's lupine (L. nuttallii), both with blue flower spikes, are found in dry open woods and fields of eastern North America. Spreading lupine (L. diffusa) and hairy lupine (L. villosus) are distributed throughout the southern United States. L. polyphyllus, from the Pacific Northwest, is becoming abundant in the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada.