Tuberous pea

[Hristo]

Yes, and I'm excited, because I think this species likes my soil, which is rare because my soil is very imbalanced and many species (the common beans among them) doesn't produce well for me. These tubers are from plants started from seeds this spring, the seeds came from here:
www.magicgardenseeds.com/LAT02
I had and few plants from Frank's (orflo) tuberous peas which I let grow wild in my garden past 3 years and never dug. This year I dug and one of them and the tuber were big too, almost as these, but the plants were between my bush yard-long beans, so the size is not bad at all. This makes me think it's not due to the seeds, but due to the conditions here, so I will try to breed them. But there are 2 problems:
1. The plants here do not produce many seeds (if at all), probably this is the other big reason for the large tuber size.
2. It's hard to get many accessions. Do not know why, but this species is very rarely offered. At the moment I found only 3 places I can buy seeds from, and I already did from the above site, so only 2 new. At least I hope they are not close related.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

interesting. That looks exactly like a wild sweet pea that i noticed growing this spring on the other side of the fence. It was about the same size too. about 5 feet tall with like 20 vines coming out of a huge clump. They are supposed to be perennial too, but i will have to wait until next spring to see if it comes back to life in the same spot. I never would have thought to look for tubers, but i guess tubers would be more common in a perennial plant though.

[orflo]

Interesting picture there Hristo. These seem to be a bit off-shape and off-colour compared to the ones over here. It's hard to get some selections, but last year when I searched USDA/GRIN they had some selections, maybe ten or so (I should check that again). I tried one of them, but didn't notice a difference between this one and the one I had.
Seeds don't set easily over here as well, although in normal years I can get a handful or even a bit more. I think this is some very interesting crop, but efforts have been made in the past and it seems to be reluctant to selections (a bit like skirret..). Maybe that's part of the marginal status of this excellent vegetable, and crops do stay a bit low. But the taste is great!

[Hristo]

Considering it's native to Europe and it's legume producing starchy tuber, then there should be really good reason it's still undomesticated. One thing is for sure it's better (for our climate) than Ahipa in every aspect. Next year I will try to cross whatever I have. I only hope some of the crosses to produce seeds, because I haven't seen pods on my plants yet. Regarding GRIN - a few years ago I ordered and received one accession (it was of Amaranthus australis), but I feel uncomfortable to ask for free (for me) seeds, so I have not ordered anything since then, maybe now I should reconsider this .

[orflo]

They did try to domesticate this one, but either they didn't succeed, either they found something more interesting and easier to grow (bigger crops!) than this lathyrus. I searched a bit, and came up with this Dutch firm that sells it also:
debolderik.net/soorten.php?action=show_soort&id=144&scinaam=Lathyrus%20tuberosus&naam=Aardaker&letter=
They even sell packets of one kilo of seeds (expensive!). I also came up with a very old Dutch text, I'm placing the link here, but it will be hard to translate by google or something else, it's some ancient form of Dutch (but there are some drawings in it as well). It used to be grown and eaten quite a bit in The Netherlands, and some wild forms should be easy to find in Zeeland (a province of the Netherlands). Did anyone ever try lathyrus linifolius?
wilde-planten.nl/afbeeldingen/aardaker.htm
I think if I have a more thorough search, that I can find some more Dutch firms carrying lathyrus tuberosus, it has a bit of a mythical status over there, and is of course a very nice long flowering plant as well.

[Hristo]

Thanks for the links! Can you translate this excerpt for me, please: "wortelstok vormt op sommige plaatsen 1-1,5cm grote knollen." Google translates it as "rootstock 1-1.5 cm in some places forms large tubers." for me this sound like: "usually the tubers are 1-1.5 cm., but at some places grow much bigger", but when I split the excerpt in 2 parts the translation sounds more like: "in some places forms large (1-1.5 cm.) tubers"!

Considering it's area of distribution is from Western Europe to N. W. China I would be surprise if there is no enough genetic variability for breeding. Well I suppose we should talk again about this after 4-5 years ;D

[orflo]

You have it right there, with your translation, 'in some places it forms tubers of 1-1,5 cms'. That's pretty small, mine get up to three or four cm. thick and about 7-10 cms long.
Here are some more places where you can buy seeds (all in Flemmish):
www.leylant.com/catalog/products_new.php
www.ecoflora.be/inheemsewildeplanten_NL.html
seedgardenofeden.sohosted.com/shop/shop/index.html?http://seedgardenofeden.sohosted.com/shop/shop/article_g002_517.html

[Hristo]

Thanks for the translation and the links. I have noticed that on the first site they offer and Apios. Does this Apios has anything in common with yours?

[stevil]

Dec 6, 2010 15:46:47 GMT -5 orflo said:

Did anyone ever try lathyrus linifolius?

I thin you sent me some seed of this a few years ago, but it didn't survive. However I've had Lathyrus montanus for some years and this seems to be synonymous with Lathyrus linifolius var montanus. This is a wild plant here call Knollerteknapp (Tuberous pea vetch literally translated). Must admit I've never got round to trying it mainly because I've up until recently only had one plant - I've read that the tubers taste of licorice. Will make a note to try in the spring. Here's a few pictures

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[stevil]

Is there a limit of only one picture per post? This one is from the botanical garden here in Trondheim

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[stevil]

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[stevil]

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[orflo]

Stephen,
there's no limit on placing pictures in one post (maybe if you place 15 or more in one post it would be rejected, but that's just a maybe...). Interesting, this lathyrus montana. I didn't realise it was a linifolius. I don't think you received the seeds from me, I once had some seeds but they never germinated, but that must have been over five years ago. Somehow, I think these could be outselected for a better crop. Does this montana have decent tubers?

[ottawagardener]

I normally put more than one photo on with the img code. I have never heard of that plant before. So much to discover.

[stevil]

Dec 8, 2010 6:24:45 GMT -5 orflo said:

Stephen,
there's no limit on placing pictures in one post (maybe if you place 15 or more in one post it would be rejected, but that's just a maybe...). Interesting, this lathyrus montana. I didn't realise it was a linifolius. I don't think you received the seeds from me, I once had some seeds but they never germinated, but that must have been over five years ago. Somehow, I think these could be outselected for a better crop. Does this montana have decent tubers?

I sowed seed of linifolius in 2004, but that was probably before I knew you...

As I say, I'll check the tubers in the spring