It occurs on mild sandy and volcanic soils in mining belts. As a wild plant, it is widespread over the coastal area in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, on the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily and in Southern Italy. It is most likely that in Israel and Lebanon it has turned wild. Cultivated in Northern Europe and the CIS (Belarus and Ukraine) as well as, on a smaller scale, in Western Australia and South Africa. Having previously been cultivated in southern France and on Madeira, it has turned wild there.
Using combinations of such characters as the colour of the corolla, the carina's edge, vegetative organs and seeds, 18 varieties, 4 subvarieties and 6 forms have been identified.[3]
The plant's yellow seeds, known as lupin beans, were once a common food of the Mediterranean basin and Latin America. Today they are primarily eaten as a pickledsnack food.
Lupinus luteus in Portugal
Flower
Fruit
Uses
Yellow lupin is mainly cultivated to feed livestock and poultry, and is also used as an ornamental plant.[4]
Gladstones, J.S. 1998. Distribution, Origin, Taxonomy, History and Importance. In: J.S. Gladstones et al. (eds.), Lupin as Crop Plants. Biology, Production and Utilization, 1-39.
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