Editing Lupinus polyphyllus (section)

=== Hybrids ===
[[File:Blaue.Lupine.jpg|thumb|Close up of ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' flower]]
The herbaceous lupin ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' was brought by [[David_Douglas_(botanist)|David Douglas]] from North America to  [[United Kingdom|Britain]] in the 1820s.  Almost a century later, [[George Russell (horticulturist)|George Russell]], a [[horticulturist]] from York, [[UK]], started to breed the (later famous) Russell hybrids (''Lupinus'' × ''russellii'' <small>hort</small>).<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bourne|first1=Val|title=Falling in love again | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3298276/Falling-in-love-again.html|accessdate=26 June 2017|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=9 March 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=George Russell, MBE 1857 - 1951 | url = http://www.stillingtonvillage.org/history/Chapter5.htm|website=stillingtonvillage.org|accessdate=26 June 2017}}</ref> ''Lupinus polphyllus'' were originally of basic colours and had large gaps in the flowering spike. Without the use of modern-day plant breeding techniques, Russell took to ruthlessly pulling out any plants which he deemed to be unacceptable in growth or display. He spent two decades single-handedly trying to breed the perfect lupin, crossing ''L. polyphyllus'' with ''L. arboreus'', ''L. sulphureus'' and one or more annual species (maybe ''L. nootkatensis'').

Over the decades, the plants he selected developed flower spikes that were denser, larger, and more colourful than the original ''Lupinus polyphyllus''. His work may have gone unrecognised if he had not been encouraged by nurseryman James Baker to show the plants to the public. It is understood the pair worked together for several years to perfect the Russell Hybrid, before they were displayed at the [[Royal Horticultural Society]]'s June show in 1937, where their brightly coloured, tightly packed spires won awards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gardenworld.co.uk/blog/garden-lupins/|title=BBC gardeners world article|publisher=BBC|accessdate=2010-06-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100622090115/http://www.gardenworld.co.uk/blog/garden-lupins/|archive-date=2010-06-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> Russell was later awarded an [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]], and the Royal Horticultural Society awarded him the [[Veitch Memorial Medal]] for a lifetime's achievement in horticulture. Baker later secured Russell's entire stock; in their heyday, Bakers Nurseries Ltd. of Codsall, Wolverhampton attracted 80,000 visitors in June to see {{convert|40|acre|ha}} of lupines in flower.

Russell disliked the blue colours, as they reflected too closely the original plants imported from America almost a 100 years previously. The blue colouring is a recessive [[allele]], and so although Russell might have worked hard to suppress it, lupines left unchecked over several generations will eventually revert to the old blues. Almost all garden lupines today are hybrids of the true Russell hybrids due to their ease of cross pollinating with one another, and with no special interest in lupine cultivating until recent years it has meant the plants have created a large pool of genetic diversity and variation from the original Russells.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westcountrylupins.co.uk/acatalog/|title=West Country Nurseries article|publisher=West Country Nurseries|accessdate=2010-06-06}}</ref>

There is strong concern that Russell lupine DNA significantly contaminates large percentages of commercially-available wild perennial Lupine, ''[[Lupinus perennis]]'', seed, making it potentially unsuitable for the larvae of the endangered [[Karner Blue]], ''Plebejus melissa samuelis'', butterfly. The Karner cannot feed upon Russell lupines, nor can it feed upon the base ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' species.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/the-rare-karner-blue-butterfly-is-making-a-comeback/|title=The Rare Karner Blue Butterfly|date=18 August 2013 |publisher=West Country Nurseries|accessdate=2018-01-13}}</ref> Those who wish to protect the Karner should prevent the introduction of ''Lupinus polyphyllus'' and Russell lupines into the remaining areas where the butterfly continues to exist, to prevent the toxic lupine hybridization.<ref name="DNR"/>

The templates created by Russell are still used by other specialist lupine horticulturalists today, e.g., Maurice and Brian Woodfield, nurserymen from [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], who received the RHS [[Veitch Memorial Medal]] for their work on lupines in 2000. The Woodfields created more complex plants with more varied and vivid bi-coloured spikes, the red and yellow, and red and purple flowers are particular highlights of the "Woodfield" lupine variety.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/4791536/Simply-loopy.html|title=Telegraph Lupin article|work=The Telegraph|accessdate=2009-07-27 | location=London | first=Fred | last=Whitsey | date=2000-06-24}}</ref> In 2009, Sarah Conibear who runs the Westcountry Nurseries, displayed several new varieties including the ‘Beefeater', about which the RHS writer Graham Rice commented "[the beefeater] has what looks to be the best red lupine we've seen so far."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/archive/2009/05/17/westcountry-nurseries-new-at-chelsea-09.aspx|title=RHS article|publisher=RHS|accessdate=2009-07-27}}</ref>