Tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis)

Tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae, annuals, erect, up to 2.3 meters high, woody stems, branched, cylindrical, smooth bark and green or brown, roots up to 3 meters long, grows at elevations up to 2000 meters.

L. mutabilis has palmate leaves, radial, each leaf has 5-9 leaflets, elongated oval, rounded ends, smooth surface and bright green.

The inflorescences are in panicles at the ends of the stems and erect. The corolla is 1-2 cm long and contains 5 petals. High color variation but generally contains white, purple and yellow. White is recessive to purple.

Fruit pods, 5-12 cm long, green to brown and white hair. Each pod contains 3-9 seeds. The weight of a thousand seeds is about 200 grams.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Tribe: Genisteae
Genus: Lupinus
Species: Lupinus mutabilis

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