"Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins or lupines (North America), is a genus in the legume family (Fabaceae). The genus comprises about 280 species (Hughes), with major centers of diversity in South and western North America (Subgen. Platycarpos (Wats.) Kurl.), parts of the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand and parts of Australia) and the Andes and secondary centers in the Mediterranean region and Africa (Subgen. Lupinus)"
According to Wikipedia:
"The species are mostly herbaceous perennial plants 0.3--1.5 m (0.98--4.9 ft) tall, but some are annual plants and a few are shrubs up to 3 m (10 ft) tall—see also bush lupin[disambiguation needed]—with one species (Lupinus jaimehintoniana from the Mexican state of Oaxaca) a tree up to 8 m (26 ft) high with a trunk 20 cm (7.9 in) in diameter. They have a characteristic and easily recognized 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[disambiguation needed]. The fruit is a pod containing several seeds."
"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. 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. Lupin beans are commonly sold in a salty solution in jars (like olives and pickles) and can be eaten with or without the skin.
Lupini dishes are most commonly found in Mediterranean countries, especially in Portugal, Egypt, and Italy, and also in Brazil. In Portugal, Spain and the Spanish Harlem they are popularly consumed with beer. In Lebanon, salty and chilled Lupini Beans are called "Termos" 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), and Lupinus hirsutus are also edible after soaking the seeds for some days in salted water. Lupins were also used by Native Americans in North America, e.g., the Yavapai people. Lupins 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] Edible 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."
