These lupins appear to be White Lupin Lupinus albus graecus, also known as Field Lupin. White lupins have a spring and a winter form so I imagine that explains why they are flowering in April (ie they are the winter form, sown to overwinter and flower in the spring, like canola). This isn't a traditional pulse in central France, but I've seen them for sale in the supermarket in the North African section. There is a significant Portuguese population in the area too, and they appreciate White Lupin, so I suspect this crop is for human consumption, not animal feed.
Lupins should thrive here because there is already a local species, Narrow-leaved Lupin Lupinus angustifolius, now very rare in the wild (its beautiful royal blue flowers can be seen on the roadside opposite the entrance to LeClerc at Ville aux Dames in the summer). Lupins like the sandy soil that occurs in pockets in the river valleys. Ironically, Narrow-leaved Lupin has been developed as a crop in Australia and 85% of the world's production of this species is in Western Australia.
2 comments:
The field beans that you see, along with these lupins and the clouds of Phacelia....are also a green manure...to be ploughed in immediately before the next crop is planted.
The advantage of these three...and buckwheat...are that they form no part in rotation and can be sown anywhere, anytime.
So not necessarily a crop in the true sense at all....
France has always used green manures widely...with that and cow shite being used...helps with the biodiversity of the country.
Lupins are all over the landscape in northern New England places such as Maine, but as ornamental only. And invasive ornamental at that -- they spread like mad. Not sure which species there, though.
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