Lupinus, commonly known as lupin or lupine (North America), is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. The genus includes over 200 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur in North Africa and the Mediterranean. Seeds of various species of lupins have been used as a food for over 3000 years around the Mediterranean (Gladstones, 1970) and for as much as 6000 years in the Andean highlands (Uauy et al., 1995), but they never have they been accorded the same status as soybeans or dry peas and other pulse crops.