Lila's Crowders

Evaluated at Heritage Farm in 2025, description in progress. Barbara (Donor & Seed Source) of Waupaca, Wisconsin has been stewarding this crowder cowpea variety since 1973 from seed she got from Delila “Lila” (Bettis) Porter (1915-2012), the ninth of eleven children to James and Melissa (Howell) Bettis of Quitman, Arkansas. Lila was a neighbor to Barbara’s parents’ farm and a dear friend of Barbara’s mother, Mavis M. (Trawick) Chapman (1918-2009). Lila claimed the variety had been in her family for generations. Barbara feared she would die and no one would grow these cowpeas she had saved for so many years. She donated this variety to SSE in 2023. SSE Accession # 133931