Lupin

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Lupins
Wild Perennial Lupin (Sundial lupine, Lupinus perennis).
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Tribe:	Genisteae
Subtribe:	Lupininae
Genus:	Lupinus L.
Species.
About 200-600 species depending on authority; see text.

Lupins or lupines (North America) are the members of the genus Lupinus in the legume family (Fabaceae). The genus comprises between 200 and 600 species, with major centers of diversity in South and western North America (subgen.Platycarpos (Wats.) Kurl.), and in the Mediterranean region and Africa (Subgen.Lupinus).^[1][2][3]

The species are mostly herbaceous perennial plants 0.3-1.5 m (1–5 ft) tall, but some are annual plants and a few are shrubs up to 3 m (10 ft) tall - see also bush lupin -, with one species (Lupinus jaimehintoniana, from the Mexican state of Oaxaca) a tree up to 8 m high with a trunk 20 cm (8 in) in diameter. They have a characteristic and easily recognised leaf shape, with soft green to grey-green leaves which in many species bear silvery hairs, often densely so. The leaf blades are usually palmately divided into 5–28 leaflets or reduced to a single leaflet in a few species of the southeastern United States. The flowers are produced in dense or open whorls on an erect spike, each flower 1-2 cm long, with a typical peaflower shape with an upper 'standard' or 'banner', two lateral 'wings' and two lower petals fused as a 'keel'. Due to the flower shape, several species are known as bluebonnets or quaker bonnets. The fruit is a pod containing several seeds.

Like most members of their family, lupins can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into ammonia via a rhizobium-root nodule symbiosis, fertilizing the soil for other plants, this adaption allows lupins to be tolerant of infertile soils and capable of pioneering change in barren and poor quality soils. The genus Lupinus is nodulated by Bradyrhizobium soil bacteria^[4]. Some species have a long central tap roots, or have proteoid roots.

Lupins contain significant amounts of certain secondary compounds like isoflavones and toxic alkaloids, e.g. lupinine and sparteine.

Contents 1 Cultivation and uses 1.1 Companion plant 1.2 Horticulture and ecology 2 Selected species 3 Symbolic uses 4 See also 5 Footnotes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Cultivation and uses

The yellow legume seeds of lupins, commonly called lupin beans, were popular with the Romans, who spread the plant's cultivation throughout the Roman Empire; hence common names like lupini in Romance languages. Lupin beans are commonly sold in a salty solution in jars (like olives and pickles) and can be eaten with or without the skin. Lupins are also cultivated as forage and grain legumes. The name 'Lupin' derives from the Latin word 'lupinus' (meaning wolf), and was given with regard to the fact that many found that the plant has a tendency to ravage the land on which it grows. The peas, which appear after the flowering period were also said to be fit only for the consumption of wolves.

Lupini dishes are most commonly found in Mediterranean countries, especially in Portugal, Egypt, and Italy, and also in Brazil and in Spanish Harlem, where they are popularly consumed with beer. In Lebanon, salty and chilled Lupini Beans are called "Zbib" and are served pre-meal as part of an aperitif. The Andean variety of this bean is from the Andean Lupin (tarwi, L. mutabilis) and was a widespread food in the Incan Empire. The Andean Lupin and the Mediterranean L. albus (White Lupin), L. angustifolius (Blue Lupin)^[5] and Lupinus hirsutus^[6] are also edible after soaking the seeds for some days in salted water^[7]. They are known as altramuz in Spain and Argentina. In Portuguese the lupin beans are known as tremoços, and in Antalya (Turkey) as tirmis^{[verification needed]}. Lupins were also used by Native Americans in North America, e.g. the Yavapai people. These lupins are referred to as sweet lupins because they contain smaller amounts of toxic alkaloids than the bitter lupin varieties. Newly bred variants of sweet lupins are grown extensively in Germany; they lack any bitter taste and require no soaking in salt solution. The seeds are used for different foods from vegan sausages to lupin-tofu or baking-enhancing lupin flour. Given that lupin seeds have the full range of essential amino acids and that they, contrary to soy, can be grown in more temperate to cool climates, lupins are becoming increasingly recognized as a cash crop alternative to soy.

Three Mediterranean species of lupin, Blue Lupin, White Lupin and Yellow Lupin (L. luteus) are widely cultivated for livestock and poultry feed. Both sweet and bitter lupins in feed can cause livestock poisoning. Lupin poisoning is a nervous syndrome caused by alkaloids in bitter lupins, similar to neurolathyrism. Mycotoxic lupinosis is a disease caused by lupin material that is infected with the fungus Diaporthe toxica^[8]; the fungus produces mycotoxins called phomopsins, which cause liver damage. Poisonous lupin seeds cause annually the loss of many cattle and sheep on western American Ranges^[9].

[edit] Companion plant

Lupins make good companion plants for crops that need significant amounts of nitrogen in their soil and can be intercropped properly, like cucumbers, squash, broccoli, and spinach.

On 22 December 2006, the European Commission submitted directive 2006/142/EC, which amends the EU foodstuff allergen list to include "lupin and products thereof".

[edit] Horticulture and ecology

Lupins are popular ornamental plants in gardens. There are numerous hybrids and cultivars. Some species, such as Garden Lupin (Lupinus polyphyllus) and hybrids like the Rainbow Lupin (L. × regalis) are common garden flowers. Others, such as the Yellow Bush Lupin (L. arboreus) are considered invasive weeds when they appear outside their native range.

In New Zealand Lupinus polyphyllus have escaped into the wild and grow in large numbers along main roads and streams on the South Island. Although considered attractive by some it is also seen as an invasive species.

For several Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), lupins are an important larval food. These include:

• Callophrys irus (Frosted Elfin)^[10][11]
• Chesias legatella (The Streak)^[12]
• Chionodes braunella
• Glaucopsyche xerces (Xerces Blue) - extinct
• Icaricia icarioides missionensis (Mission Blue)^[11][13]
• Lycaeides melissa samuelis (Karner Blue)^[10][11]
• Melanchra persicariae (Dot Moth)
• Phymatopus behrensii
• Schinia suetus^[14]

The endangered Lange's Metalmark (Apodemia mormo langei) mates on Silver Bush Lupin (L. albifrons).

The most significant diseases of lupins are anthracnose as well as wilting and root rot diseases caused by Fusarium and other pathogens, and some bacterial and viral diseases.^[15]

There are two subgenera of the genus Lupinus L.: Subgen. Platycarpos and Subgen.^[16]

[edit] Selected species

[edit] Symbolic uses

Bluebonnet lupins, notably the Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) are the state flower of Texas, USA.

[edit] See also

• Alice Eastwood
• Lupin bean
• Lupin milk
• Lupin poisoning

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ subgen.Platycarpos
2. ^ subgen. Lupinus
3. ^ Ainouche & Bayer (1999)
4. ^ Kurlovich et al. (2002)
5. ^ Murcia & Hoyos ([1998])
6. ^ Hedrick (1919): 387-388
7. ^ Azcoytia, Carlos: Historia de los altramuces. Un humilde aperitivo. [in Spanish]
8. ^ Williamson et al. (1994)
9. ^ Hutchins, R. E. 1965. The Amazing Seed. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company.
10. ^ ^{a b} Only known from Sundial Lupin (L. perennis)
11. ^ ^{a b c} Endangered^{[citation needed]}
12. ^ Recorded on Yellow Bush Lupin (L. arboreus)
13. ^ Only known from Silver Bush Lupin (L. albifrons), Summer Lupin (L. formosus), and Varied Lupin (L. variicolor)
14. ^ Feeds exclusively on Lupinus species
15. ^ Golubev & Kurlovich (2002)
16. ^ Lupinus

[edit] References

• Ainouche, Abdel-Kader & Bayer, Randall J. (1999): Phylogenetic relationships in Lupinus (Fabaceae: Papilionoideae) based on internal transcribed spacer sequences (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Am. J. Bot. 86(4): 590-607. PDF fulltext
• Golubev, A.A. & Kurlovich, Boguslav S. (2002): Diseases and Pests. In: Kurlovich, Boguslav S. (ed.): Lupins: geography, classification, genetic resources and breeding: 287-312. Published by the author. ISBN 5-86741-034-X
• Hedrick, U.P. (ed.) (1919): Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World
• Kurlovich, Boguslav S.; Tikhonovich, I.A.; Kartuzova, L.T.; Heinänen, J.; Kozhemykov, A.P.; Tchetkova, S.A.; Cheremisov B.M. & Emeljanenko, T.A. (2002): Nitrogen fixation. In: Kurlovich, Boguslav S. (ed.): Lupins: geography, classification, genetic resources and breeding: 269-286. Published by the author. ISBN 5-86741-034-X
• Murcia, José & Hoyos, Isabel ([1998]): Características y aplicaciones de las plantas: ALTRAMUZ AZUL (Lupinus angustifolius) [in Spanish]. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
• Williamson, P.M.; Highet, A.S.; Gams, W.; Sivasithamparam, K. & Cowling, W.A. (1994): Diaporthe toxica sp. nov., the cause of lupinosis in sheep. Mycological Research 98(12): 1364-1365. HTML abstract ADRIS record

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lupinus

• Classification of lupins
• Lupins resource website
• Alternative field crops manual: Lupine
• Lupins