Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4 Volume 17 Number 3 1976 Article 2 1-1-1976 The Mediterranean white lupin John Sylvester Gladstones Follow this and additional works at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/journal_agriculture4 Part of the Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, and the Plant Breeding and Genetics Commons Recommended Citation Gladstones, John Sylvester (1976) "The Mediterranean white lupin," Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4: Vol. 17 : No. 3 , Article 2. Available at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/journal_agriculture4/vol17/iss3/2 This article is brought to you for free and open access by Research Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4 by an authorized administrator of Research Library. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. The mediterranean white lupin J. S. Gladstones, Senior Plant Breeder Strictly speaking, the com­ mon name of Lupinus albus is "Both these unhappy soils the swain "white lupin", a direct transla­ forbears, tion of its Latin botanical name, And keeps a Sabbath of alternate and it is so known in most Eng­ years, lish-speaking countries. Un­ That the spent earth may gather fortunately the practice has heart again, grown up in Western Australia And bettered by cessation bear the of referring to varieties of the grain, narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus At least where vetches, pulse and angustifolius) which have white tares have stood, flowers and seeds, such as Uni- And stalks of lupines grew (a stubborn white, Uniharvest and Unicrop, wood), as "white lupins". This is in­ The ensuing season, in return, may correct. The name "Mediter­ bear ranean white lupin" is used here The bearded product of the golden for L. albus to make the dis­ year." tinction clear, but desirably this From Virgil, the first book of should be contracted to "white Georgics (Dry-den's translation). lupin", and the correct common name "narrow-leafed lupin" used for all varieties of L. "If you want to bring in a good angustifolius. lupin harvest, thrash your wife soundly before you go out sowing in the field". The author with a plant of L albus. Old Syrian proverb. However, recent genetic studies have shown that the two forms cross Like nearly all wild lupins, these readily, and that they differ only in Lupin breeder Dr. John Gladstones have blue flowers and dark, mottled a few simply inherited genetic factors. does not beat his wife as recommended seeds, impermeable seed coats, and The cultivated forms undoubtedly in the Syrian proverb above. Nor is pods which shatter as soon as they arose from the wild types by ancient he known to use ground-up lupin are ripe. Like all wild lupins they but deliberate selection of desirable seeds for the diverse cosmetic and are very bitter. agronomic features, such as non- medicinal purposes recommended in So different in appearance are shattering pods, permeable seed ancient Roman and other texts on these wild types from their cultivated coats, larger seeds, more erect lupins. counterparts that botanists long as­ growth, and earlier flowering—pre• But his modern work on lupin sumed them to be a different species, cisely as is being repeated in the 20th breeding and development has un­ which was named Lupinus graecus. Century for other lupin species. doubtedly been influenced by his detailed study of such writings. In this article he discusses the history of the Mediterranean white lupin and presents some highlights gleaned from early texts. Release of the variety Ultra marks the first commercial cultivation in Australia of the Mediterranean white lupin, Lupinus albus. Unlike pre­ vious commercial lupin varieties in Australia, all of which belong to species only recently domesticated, Ultra belongs to a lupin species with a long history of cultivation. The first cultivation of L. albus was probably in the Balkan Penin­ sula, where wild ancestors still exist. Distribution of L. albus in the Mediterranean as a wild and cultivated plant. 70 Journal of Agriculture Vol 17 No 3, 1976 However, they remained bitter. Sweet, crop forms such as Ultra were not selected until the 1930's; or if selected, they were lost again. Reference has been made to the finding of L. albus seeds in Egyptian tombs of the 12th Dynasty (about 2,000 B.C.), but according to Han- elt*, who has studied the subject thoroughly, the species was not present in Egypt until about the start of the Christian era. At that time it was already well established in Roman agriculture and had been cultivated in Greece for at least several hundred years. However, Hanelt also cites literary evidence of Low (1881) that lupins were men­ tioned on Assyrian cunieform tablets, and that they had probably been imported into Babylon. The Greek word for the species was "thermos", which means hot, perhaps in reference to the extreme bitterness of the seeds. All names for it throughout the Middle East appear to be derived from this, for example termis in Egypt, turmus in Arabic and in India, turmusa in Aramaic, and Furmesa in Syrian. This further Flowers of L albus. Although usually white they often have a purplish blue indicates a Greek origin for the crop tinge. Note the smooth upper surface of the leaflets. as cultivated. throughout the Roman Empire, and Still it needs the mild temperature of L. albus in Ancient Greece and was extensively described by Roman autumn to become quickly estab­ Rome writers on agriculture. The charac­ lished, for if it has not taken a The earliest extensive published ref­ teristics and value of the crop were strong hold before winter it is erence is that of the Greek physician well known. Columella, who lived at greatly injured by the cold . The Hippocrates (400-356 B.C.), who Cadiz in Spain, wrote as follows in lupin likes lean ground, as I have spoke of lupins in human nutrition his book "De Re Rustica", pub­ said, and especially reddish soil; it along with lentils, beans and peas. lished about 60 A.D.*: "First con­ has an intense dislike of chalky Theophrastus (372-288 B.C.) re­ sideration belongs to the lupin, as it ground, and does not come up at all ferred at length to lupins in his requires least labour, costs least, and in a miry field." "Natural History of Plants", a of all crops that are sown is most Elsewhere (Book 2. XV. 5) Colu­ botanical work regarded as authori­ beneficial to the land. It affords an mella states: "if (the farmer) will tative until the Middle Ages and excellent fertilizer for worn-out vine­ scatter lupin on lean ground about later. Among other things, Theo­ yards and ploughlands; it flourishes the middle of September, plough it phrastus noted that lupins sought even in exhausted soil; and it en­ in, and at the proper time cut it up poor and sandy soils and would dures age when laid away in the with a ploughshare or mattock, it grow on rough, even uncultivated granary. When softened by boiling will have the effect of the best man­ land, and that they should be sown it is good fodder for cattle during the ure. The lupin should be cut in immediately after threshing of the winter; in the case of humans, too, gravelly soil when it is in second previous crop; further, "they should it serves to ward off famine in years flower and in sticky soils when it is not be harvested before the rain, of crop failure. It is broadcast direct in third flower. In the former case otherwise they burst open and lose from the threshing floor, and it is it is turned under while still tender, their seeds". The latter points sug­ the only one of all the legumes so that it may rot quickly and be gest that the crop at that time may which does not require a rest in the mixed with the thin soil; in the latter still have been hard-seeded, and that bin, whether you sow it in unbroken when it has grown stronger, so that the non-shattering pod characteristic fallow in the month of September it may hold up the more solid clods may not have been as fully developed before the equinox, or immediately longer and keep them suspended, to as now. after the Calends of October; and be broken down by the summer sun". whatever way you cover it, it with­ Cultivation of the white lupin was stands the carelessness of the farmer. It is an interesting commentary on well established in Rome and soil types that the Greek and Roman writers always speak of lupins for * Hanelt. P. (I960)—"Lupinen". (A. Ziemsen: * Book 2.X.2 Tr. H. B. Ash. (Heinemann: Wittenberg). London. 1948.) growing on the poorest soil types. 71 Journal of Agriculture Vol 17 No 3, 1976 In Western Australia, L. albus suc­ the South American agronomist ceeds only on relatively fertile soils, A. Burkhart (personal communi­ which, however, are probably no cation), seeds of bitter white lupins better than equivalent to the poorest are used as a sciatica cure there soils farmed by the Romans. The today. really poor soil types on which we White lupin seeds also had social now grow lupins in Western Aus­ uses and significance in Rome. They tralia are not only rare in the Medi­ were used as counters or counterfeit terranean; they could not be farmed money (aurum comicum, or "funny at all without our modern know­ gold") in plays and games—for ledge of plant nutrition and ferti­ which their smoothness and square, lizers.