Whippoorwill, Speckled

This variety is super prolific. This smaller-seeded variety is vining and will climb your corn or anything it encounters, but won't pull it down. In a report published in 1912 by the United States Department of Agriculture, Whippoorwill (also known as "Shinney Pea") was in the top 5 most popular and most widely grown southern peas in the United States. Since the 1990s, Whipporwill has seen a revival, and was nominated by the Slow Food Ark of Taste Committee for the US South as an endangered and culturally important variety. Of course, this species was brought from West Africa, which is its center of genetic diversity, likely where it was first domesticated, and where it is still most widely grown. Also known as: Shinney Pea, Whipporwill Cowpea