Lupinus subcarnosus Hook. has the common name Sandyland bluebonnet or sometimmes shares with his brother Lupinus texensis the common name Texas bluebonnet.
Lupinus subcarnosus grows naturally in sandy soil, hence the name Sandyland.
The Bluebonnet epithet, is due to the resemblance of sunbonnets wore in old times, by the pioneer Texas women in attempt to protect themselves from the sun and winds.
It is endemic to Texas and was first time collected in Texas at San Felipe by scotish naturalist Thomas Drummond in 1835.
Drummond took the specimens to botanist William Jackson Hooker, who described the Lupinus subcarnosus. (William Jackson Hooker described the Lupinus texensis, too, on specimens collected by Jean Louis Berlandier in 1828).
In 1901 Lupinus subcarnosus became the Texas State Flower.
Seventy years later, the Legislature fixed a confusion that led to disputes over time. This because in fact Bluebonnet is name for several species of lupine native in Texas. The dispute was solved very elegant in 1971. State Legislature made all other Bluebonnet from Texas the State Flower.
Picture taken on April 08, 2013, Victoria Tx.
Useful links:
http://www.wildflower.org/plan...
https://npsot.org/TrinityForks...
Book about Bluebonnet
The Texas Bluebonnet by Jean Andrews; University of Texas Press Austin,