As a wild plant, it is widespread over the coastal area in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, on the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily and in Southern Italy.

Cultivated in Northern Europe and the CIS (Belarus and Ukraine) as well as, on a smaller scale, in Western Australia and South Africa.

Using combinations of such characters as the colour of the corolla, the carina's edge, vegetative organs and seeds, 18 varieties, 4 subvarieties and 6 forms have been identified.

[3] The plant's yellow seeds, known as lupin beans, were once a common food of the Mediterranean basin and Latin America.

Yellow lupin is mainly cultivated to feed livestock and poultry, and is also used as an ornamental plant.