[Brought to the U.S. by enslaved Africans before the American Revolution. Clay peas were carried as rations by Confederate soldiers, while both Iron and Clay peas sustained newly freed African-Americans after the Civil War according to George Washington Carver’s 1908 Cookbook of Field Pea Recipes.]

Vigorous, drought hardy plants are a great nitrogen-fixing cover crop. Daylength-sensitive variety. Starts flowering when nights lengthen to ~11 hours. Late maturing pods can be harvested for the kitchen or used for fodder. Good root-knot nematode resistance. Sprawling vines. 6-7 in. pods, light tan seeds.