Al 143 grasspea

(Lathyrus sativus)

Lathyrus sativus is an interesting crop. Many of our food plants were domesticated in a few key regions around the world, from which they spread – the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, the area between the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers in China, Mesoamerica, and the Andes Mountains in South America being the most influential. The oldest is the Middle Eastern centre of domestication. But humans are pretty resourceful wherever they are. Maybe 8,000 years ago, as crops like lentils and peas spread from there to the Balkans, early Balkan farmers noted a local plant which had potential to be just as good – and domesticated this species!

It spread: west to Spain, south to Ethiopia, east as far as Bangladesh. But as it spread, two distinct forms were favoured by different peoples. To the west of the Balkans, white-flowered, light-seeded varieties predominated; to the east, blue-flowered ones with dark speckly seeds were favoured.

A long preamble to say that this landrace, from its ancient homeland in Albania, includes both those major branches of its development: light and dark seeds, blue and white flowers. All plants have about even height (about knee-high) and maturity, however, making it easy to grow and harvest. I found it in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Plant Germplasm System (i.e. seed bank). They provide some interesting notes:

Collected

04 September 1996.

Albania

Locality: Agricultural Research Institute at Lushnje.

Coordinates: 41.0000, 20.0000 (Map it)

Elevation: 110m.

Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS

Environment description: Average temp 14 degrees C, average precipitation 8.5 mm/mo.

Collector(s):

Garvey, Edward J., USDA, ARS

Muehlbauer, Fred J., USDA, ARS

Xhuveli, Lufter, Agricultural University of Tirana

Narrative

Used as forage crop and for Byrek, a type of bread made like a pizza. Landrace from Albania, origin Skrapari mountains region.

USDA ARS NPGS Accession # PI 667250. 40 seeds/packet.