Iron & Clay African (Southern) Pea (Pole)
Vigna unguiculata
Approximately 100 seeds per pack.
Germination: 95% May 2025 Packed for 2025
This vegetable seems to have a different name in each section of the country. Southern peas are also called cowpeas, field peas, crowder peas, and black-eyed peas. Several varieties have historically been cultivated in Africa, and were transported to the Americas via the transatlantic slave trade, hence a new term, African Peas. By whatever name you call them, they’re an old favorite in the South and can be grown where both days and nights are warm for a period of 60-90 days.
This special pair of peas (typically grown together and considered a single variety) was brought from Africa to the U.S. by enslaved Africans long before the American Revolution. According to George Washington Carver's 1908 Cookbook of Field Pea Recipes, the Clay peas were carried as rations by Confederate soldiers, while both Iron and Clay peas sustained newly freed Black people after the Civil War. The plants themselves are vigorous and drought hardy, and make a great nitrogen-fixing cover crop. Like all field peas, the leaves are edible too.
This is considered a day-length-sensitive variety, so it typically doesn't start flowering until nights lengthen to around 11 hours. Late maturing pods can be harvested for the kitchen (fresh southern peas are the best!) or used for animal fodder. This variety has good root-knot nematode resistance. The sprawling vines will climb if given a chance, and this will increase productivity. 6-7 in. pods are loaded light tan and brown seeds.
Botanical Origins of Vigna unguiculata
Vigna unguiculata, commonly known as cowpea, black-eyed pea, or southern pea, is a species of legume that originated in sub-Saharan Africa. Its wild relatives are native to tropical regions of West Africa, where the plant evolved in dry savanna ecosystems characterized by seasonal rainfall and poor soils. Genetic and archaeological evidence points to the Sahel region—spanning modern-day Niger, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso—as the primary center of domestication. This region’s fluctuating climate favored plants that could tolerate drought, leading to the selection of early cowpea types adapted to marginal soils and variable moisture. The species’ genetic diversity is greatest in Africa, supporting its identification as the evolutionary cradle of the crop.
History of Domestication
Domestication of Vigna unguiculata likely began more than 3,000 years ago, when early African farmers began selecting plants with larger seeds, less pod shattering, and improved taste. These cultivated forms were closely associated with the rise of settled agriculture in West African communities that also grew millet and sorghum. Archaeobotanical finds from central Ghana and the Niger River basin confirm cowpea’s early presence in African farming systems. Its rapid domestication was driven by its multipurpose utility—as a source of protein-rich seeds, edible leaves, and soil-enriching green manure.
Spread and Diversification
From West Africa, domesticated cowpea spread along ancient trade routes both within Africa and beyond. It moved eastward into Ethiopia and down into southern Africa, where it diversified under local growing conditions and cultural preferences. Through trans-Saharan trade and contact with the Mediterranean world, Vigna unguiculata reached India by around 2,000 years ago, and later spread to Southeast Asia. The species was introduced to the Americas in the 16th–17th centuries via the transatlantic slave trade, where enslaved Africans carried seeds and culinary traditions that became embedded in Southern U.S. food culture. In the Americas, cowpea adapted to new environments and diversified into varieties such as the black-eyed pea, clay, cream, and crowder types. Today, it is a global crop cultivated across tropical and subtropical regions, valued for its resilience, nitrogen-fixing ability, and central role in food security.
