Guatemalan cowpea

Sprawling bush-with-runner type plants might benefit from a short trellis, but don’t need it. Very long pods are filled with beautiful speckled brown seeds.
Two things intrigue me when I look at these seeds. One is morphological: the patterning on these seeds initially looks similar to that on a pinto bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). However, on closer inspection, there is an interesting difference; the speckling is not random. On a pinto, the speckles appear to be organized approximately along lines parallel to the hilum (the seed’s navel, where it attached to its pod), while on this cowpea they appear to be organized perpendicular to the hilum. I wonder whether this indicates a different genetic basis for the patterning?
The second is historical. Cowpeas were domesticated in West Africa, and were brought to this continent through the slave trade. Guatemalan looks very similar to Whippoorwill cowpea, which was a very popular variety in the American South in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I wonder whether this seed’s ancestors traveled from the U.S. to Guatemala, or if they are both descendants of a common ancestor in West Africa which came on different ships? There is so much I would like to learn about this variety!

120 days to maturity.

40 seeds/packet.