Facts about Blue lupin

Lupinus angustifolius is a species of lupin known by many common names, including narrowleaf lupin, and blue lupin. It is a fast growing annual herb belonging to Fabaceae Lindl. (Pea family). The plant is native to northern Africa (i.e. Algeria, Egypt and Morocco), southern Europe (i.e. Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain) and western Asia. It is widely naturalized in southern and eastern Australia (i.e. in eastern New South Wales, in some parts of Victoria, in Tasmania and in south-western Western Australia). Also present in some parts of western New South Wales and sparingly naturalized in south-eastern Queensland.

Apart from blue Lupin it is also known as Australian lupin, Australian sweet lupin, bitter lupin, blue lupin, blue lupine, European blue lupine, lupin, narrow leaf lupin, narrow leafed lupin, narrow leaved lupin, narrow-leaf lupin, narrowleaf lupin, narrowleaf lupine, narrow-leafed lupin, narrow-leaved blue lupin, narrow-leaved lupin, New Zealand blue lupin, sweet lupinseed, Altramuz azul and foxtail lupin.  Blue lupin has been cultivated for over 6000 years for use as human food (a pulse), animal fodder and forage, for green manure and as a soil improver and stabilizer. It is also planted as honey flora and seeds are used as a protein additive in animal feed. In many places it is an agricultural and environmental weed.

Blue Lipin Facts

Plant Description

Blue lupin is an erect, deeply tap rooted, fast growing, robust, much-branched, annual herb that mostly grows about 50 cm or less in height. The plant is found growing in disturbed sites, wastelands, roadsides, sandy coastal habitats, open woodlands, degraded shrub lands, abandoned fields, shrub steppes, parks, gardens, cultivated and rocky ground, secondary forests, ruderal areas, fields, gardens, and harbors, meadows, in bushes and near reservoirs. The plant does well on low to moderately fertile, well-drained, light or medium textured and mildly acidic to neutral sands and sandy loams. It does not withstand waterlogged soils but has tolerance of transient waterlogging. L. angustifolius is able to suppress native plant species by altering soil characteristics through its nitrogen fixing activity, allowing the spread of other non-native species. It is listed as invasive in Australia. The plant has robust and hairy stem, with profuse lateral branching.

Leaves

Dark-green colored leaves are developed from 5–9 linear-lanceolate or narrow-linear leaflets, 20–40 mm long and 2.5 mm wide. The leaves are digitate and the leaflets are narrower (hence the name “narrow-leaf lupin”) than in white lupin. The upper surface is glabrous, and the lower surface is sericeous. Stipules are linear and linear-lanceolate.

Flowers

The inflorescence is dense, almost sedentary, 5–20 cm long, placed on a short floral pedicle. Flowers are 11–15 mm long, almost sedentary; lower flowers are alternate, upper ones more or less sub-verticilate inside. Floral bracts are small-sized, easily falling. The calyx is bilabiate, profoundly bipartite; the lower lip is longer, entire or irregularly two- or three-toothed. The corolla is blue, violet, or, less frequently, pink and white. Flowering normally takes place in between June to August.

Fruits

Fertile flowers are followed by oblong, slightly inflated pods that are 35–50 mm long and 7–10 mm wide. They are 4- or 7-seeded, with oblique partitions between seeds. Seeds are 4–8 mm long, 3–7 mm wide and 3‒6 mm high, globular, with smooth testa, variously colored mostly dark gray and brown to white, or speckled or mottled, with a triangular spot and a stria close to the hilum.

History

Lupinus species have an ancient history in agriculture that can be traced back more than 4000 years. Domestication first occurred in the Mediterranean region, American continent, occurring in southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia but the breakthrough that established Lupinus species as modern agricultural crops occurred in Europe and Australia. From the 1930s to 1970s, several varieties were developed and cultivated in Australia and Germany, where it is also listed as invasive. It is listed as ‘possibly invasive’ in the Dominican Republic.

Culinary Uses

• Seed can be consumed after being cooked.
• It is used as a protein-rich vegetable or savory dish in any of the ways that cooked beans are used; they can also be roasted or ground into a powder.
• If the seed is bitter this is due to the presence of toxic alkaloids and the seed should be thoroughly leached before being cooked.
• The seed of low-alkaloid varieties is used in making ‘tempeh’.
• In France, it was formerly used as a coffee replacer.
• Lupins are mainly consumed as fermented foods, bread and pasta products, milk products or sprouts.
• Lupins were consumed by humans, with the majority used as stock feed.

Other Facts

• A good green manure plant, it produces a good bulk of organic matter and fixes atmospheric nitrogen.
• It also makes phosphorus in the soil more available to other plants.
• Plant is used as a green manure or as a grain legume for animal feed or human consumption.
• Lupins have strong roots that can reduce the compaction of a soil.
• The whole plant, including the seeds, is widely used as a fodder for livestock, due to its high protein and energy content.
• Lupin beans are growing in use as a plant-based protein source in the world marketplace.
• Stems and seed are bitter due the presence of alkaloids.

References:

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=25937#null

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=22805

https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Lupinus+angustifolius

http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/ild-8552

https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/media/Html/lupinus_angustifolius.htm

https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/LUPAN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus_angustifolius

https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.31706

https://grinczech.vurv.cz/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=22805

https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=LUAN4

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