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Fabaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Lupinus luteus

Lupinus luteus

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

Lupinus species in general (and especially the seeds) contain a range of bitter-tasting alkaloids such as lupine, anagyrine, sparteine and hydroxylupanine. The pharmacological effects of these alkaloids are that they block ganglionic transmission, decrease cardiac contractility and contract uterine smooth muscle[1]. When ingested in moderate to large quantities they can cause symptoms such as respiratory depression and slow heartbeat, sleepiness and convulsions[2]. Alkaloid levels can vary greatly from species to species, and this species is considered to be one of the more toxic. However, low-alkaloid, sweeter-tasting varieties have been developed that are cultivated as a food crop. There are also techniques (particularly soaking and discarding the soak water) that lower the alkaloid levels. Unless it is known that the plant is low in alkaloids then caution should be applied to any ingestion of the plant[PFAF]. Fungal toxins can readily invade the crushed seed and can cause chronic illness[3].

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual
Growth—

Lupinus luteus is a plant of the Mediterranean region, where it is found at elevations up to 1,100 metres. It is cultivated in much of the temperate zone, and can also be cultivated at higher elevations (from 2,000 - 3,300 metres) in the tropics It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 18 - 24°c, but can tolerate 6 - 30°c[4]. The plant can survive occasional temperatures down to about -3°c. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 450 - 1,000mm, but tolerates 350 - 2,100mm[4]. Requires a sunny position[5]. An easily grown plant, succeeding in any moderately good, well-drained soil[6, 5]. Succeeds in poor soils[7]. Found mainly on acidic, sandy soils in the wild, the plant is highly susceptible to iron and manganese deficiencies when growing on neutral and calcareous soils[8]. Tolerant of short periods of soil inundation[8]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 7, tolerating 4.5 - 8[4]. Often grown as an ornamental and green manure, the plant is also sometimes cultivated for its edible seed, mainly in parts of Europe[9, 10]. There are a number of cultivars that have been developed with low-alkaloid, sweet tasting, larger and soft-skinned seeds in non-shattering seedpods[11, 10]. Plants commence flowering around 100 - 115 days after sowing, with seeds maturing in 100 - 135 days[4]. Yields of the seeds vary from as low as 290 kilos per hectare in parts of Africa to up to 4.5 tonnes in Australia[4]. The flowers have a delicious vanilla-like perfume, the cultivar 'Romulus' has been especially mentioned[12]. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[5]. When removing plant remains at the end of the growing season, it is best to only remove the aerial parts of the plant, leaving the roots in the ground to decay and release their nitrogen.

Propagation

Pre-soak the seed for 24 hours in warm water and sow in mid spring in situ[6, 5]. You may need to protect the seed from mice. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. The seed can also be sown in situ as late as early summer as a green manure crop. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Lupinus+luteus>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  2. [2]Poisonous Plants of North Carolina — http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm ↩︎An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes.
  3. [3]A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. — Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. · Wolfe · 1984 · ISBN 0723408394 ↩︎Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far.
  4. [4]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  5. [5]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  6. [6]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  7. [7]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  8. [8]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
  9. [9]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  10. [10]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  11. [11]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  12. [12]Scented Flora of the World. — Genders. R. · Robert Hale. London. · 1994 · ISBN 0-7090-5440-8 ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
  13. [13]Flora Europaea — ? · Cambridge University Press · 1964 · ISBN - ↩︎An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for Europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.
  14. [14]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
  15. [15]Food Plants in the Americas: A Survey of the Domesticated, Cultivated, and Wild Plants Used for Human Food in North, — Kermath B.M.; Bennett B.C.' Pulsipher L.M. · 2014 ↩︎A pre-publication draft of an amazing, on-going work first started in 1985. It contains information on more than 3,900 taxa from the Americas - from Arctic regions to the Tropics
  16. [16]CosIng — http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/ ↩︎CosIng is the European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients.
  17. [17]Plants Database — United States Department of Agriculture · http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet ↩︎An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants.
  18. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎