Pea : leafless and semi-leafless

[nicollas]

Hi,

i'm interested by leafless/hyper tendrils pea. I have hard time trying to understand if there is any difference between semi-leafless and leafless denominations ? For example i've looked for "markana" pea, and in one article there is a clear distinction between two types : "Lastly, Bikini is a high-yielding, semi-leafless, modern pea, and Markana is a leafless plant "that needs no support and appears to withstand bird attacks."", whereas in some catalogs markana is said semi leafless.

So is there a difference of phenotype or genotype between leafless or semi-leafless types ?

thanks

[nicollas]

Another question, is there an edible-podded (mangetout) leafless pea variety ?

[philagardener]

Hi nicollas - There are several recessive genes involved in this architecture - pretty fascinating stuff! templeton has a nice project unfolding at alanbishop.proboards.com/thread/8763/hypertendril-semi-leafless-yellow-project (and maybe he has a SH grow-out emerging now )

Here's a place to see the genetics: www.researchgate.net/publication/286032360_Genetic_analysis_of_structure_and_function_of_stipules_in_pea_Pisum_sativum (look at fig 1)

Alan Kapular has released several hypertendril lines with edible pods. Legumes are about 80% down his interesting listing at peaceseedslive.blogspot.com/ . I have grown Sugar Magnolia but they have two others; all three are listed at www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/peas/ . Kapular says "Unexpectedly, the cross of a Parsley Bush Pea with a Purple Podded Snap Vine Pea generated the hypertendril trait."  A lot of stacked recessives are involved, but screening seedlings is straightforward.

A long time ago, Rebsie F. mentioned getting some of Alan's lines from Graham J-B. in Cardiff, so seeds may be circulating in the EU.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Markana and Canoe are pretty much the same variety in my opinion. So Leafless and Semi-leafless are the same phenotype trait.

Semi-leafless is caused by one recessive gene "af". The "parsley pea" varieties have this recessive trait, but also have another recessive gene stacked on, called "tl".

data.jic.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pgene/Default.asp?ID=27

Another question, is there a edible-podded (mangetout) leafless pea variety?

good question. when you say mangetout do you specifically mean immature snow pea pods or do you mean either snow peas or snap peas? If you also mean Snap peas then the Kapuler varieties are the best in that regard, especially Sugar Magnolia. You can find his varieties at peaceseeds but his children also have some interesting varieties at peaceseedlings. Can't think of any semi-leafless snow peas off hand, though it's possible some exist. I will keep thinking though.

[nicollas]

Thanks to both of you, ok so semi-leafless = leafless = hypertendrils

I guess i meaned snow pea but i'll but happy with the snaps from Mr Kapuler

[zeedman]

I've grown "Sugar Magnolia", and enjoyed it. There is another "afila" (leafless) snap pea that I have grown, "Sugar Lace", which has short vines. It is still in PVP status. That one seems best suited to planting late, for Fall harvest.

[templeton]

Hi nicollas,
I've been working on a semi-leafless yellow snow pea.

The semi-leafless trait has been used for some decades in Australian field peas- I think Alan Kapuler might have chanced upon it from the parsley-leaf peas, but it is used in dry field peas because it is somewhat self supporting, and therefore less likely to lodge. Breeders here incorporate some of the dwarfing (=short internode) genes to get a short self-supporting plant. There is a range of research on photosynthesis issues - the tendrils photosynthesise, and allow more light to the under foliage, leading to less decline in photosynthesis than would be expected by the leafless trait.
I thought it would be useful to incorporate because of the increased airflow with a chance of improving fungal disease of the foliage.

I've got some tall yellow snows fruiting at the moment, and a couple of dwarfing varieties that I'm hoping will be yellow and snow.

I sourced the trait from a commercial field pea - i used two, Kaspa and Mukta, i can't remember without going back to my records as to which was the parent of the two i'm proceeding with. I've back crossed it to my Joni's Taxi yellow snow and am growing the F2 at the moment, along with the original cross progeny.

I don't have a lot of time at the moment- growing and assessing growouts is taking up most of my time (along with my formal study and work - every research project always expands to encompass the whole universe-) so i haven't done a lot of reporting back. Hope to sometime soon.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

not a snow pea, but Sugar Lace 2 is reported to be a dwarf semi-leafless snap pea.