Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2022 May 15

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May 15

Lupin bread

What is lupin bread and is it made from lupin flowers? 46.69.252.235 (talk) 10:29, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

See Lupin bean.

Lupin beans can be ground into a flour, and this is widely used in parts of Europe and in Australia as an additive to wheat flour, enhancing the flavour and lending a rich, creamy colour to the resulting foods

Martin of Sheffield (talk) 10:34, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

I read the article, thanks. But do the beans come from the flowers? 46.69.252.235 (talk) 10:39, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

After the flower is fertilized, a pod grows with the beans inside. Picture of a pod with beans here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-28/lupin-pod/8849902?nw=0 Graeme Bartlett (talk) 11:34, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

As an aside, the OP may wish to learn more about legumes. They broadly fit into the Fabaceae family of plants and include a really large variety of different forms, including trees, bushes, and small shrubs. What makes legumes, well, legumes is that they produce these seed pods; these can be small ones like beans and peas and lentils or really large ones like Acacias or Tamarind. Everything we think of as a "bean" is usually from the Fabaceae family, and they have a shared physiology that makes them similar. --Jayron32 16:50, 17 May 2022 (UTC)

what if any is the difference between orphan diseases and rare diseases

I am wondering after reading the article on rare diseases are rare diseases and orphan diseases the same thing? OhioGirl42986 (talk) 19:35, 15 May 2022 (UTC)OhioGirl42986

I'm not sure what more detail we can add that isn't already provided in the article. In the lead it says, "A rare disease is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. In some parts of the world, an orphan disease is a rare disease whose rarity means there is a lack of a market large enough to gain support and resources for discovering treatments for it..." (emphases in original). There's also a section devoted to definitions which provides some context. 70.24.163.91 (talk) 22:09, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

Plant identification

Can anyone identify this plant with the blue flowers? Growing on downland in the south of England. ITookSomePhotos (talk) 19:55, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

I thought at first it was Spring gentian, but the leaves are wrong. Will keep looking. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.88.97 (talk) 22:05, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

Perhaps Lamium purpureum? If i recall it's the right time of year Zindor (talk) 22:12, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

Actually looking again it's not lol. Zindor (talk) 22:15, 15 May 2022 (UTC)

Perhaps Glechoma hederacea. It's a member of Lamiaceae or the mint family and so will have square stems and a mint aroma when its leaves are crushed. Modocc (talk) 00:39, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

@Modocc: Thank you very much. I will have to check back later if possible on those points, but from photographs it does look very likely. ITookSomePhotos (talk) 08:16, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

You could also consider Ajuga. Bazza (talk) 08:50, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

My copy of Wild Flowers at a Glance says that ground ivy (glechoma hederacea) appears in spring and early summer, is "very common in Britain" and can be found in "waste places, hedge-banks and copse edges". Some is of it flowering now in my lawn - maybe time to get the mower out. Alansplodge (talk) 10:54, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

Glechoma hederacea is correct. EvergreenFir (talk) 19:30, 16 May 2022 (UTC)