Cicer microphyllum Seeds | Small-leaved Chickpea
LATIN NAME: Cicer microphyllum
COMMON NAME: Small-leaved Chickpea
Plant Profile
Small-leaved Chickpea is a prostrate perennial of the pea family, forming low mats of slender stems and tiny, feathery leaves no longer than a fingernail. The flowers are small, pale violet to white, and the pods that follow sit close to the ground among the leaves, almost hidden from view.
It grows in the high Himalaya, from Ladakh and Kashmir through Nepal into Tibet, on stony alpine ground above three thousand five hundred metres. Wind, frost, intense sun and a season of barely three months have shaped a plant that stays low, flowers fast and sets seed before the snow returns. In cultivation it behaves as a compact, slow-growing perennial that never exceeds the proportions of a large cushion.
Science & Biotechnology
This is the highest-ranging of the wild chickpeas, and its altitude record makes it a target in breeding work on cold tolerance. It crosses with the cultivated chickpea only with difficulty, and embryo rescue is usually needed to recover hybrids from the cross.
Field studies in Ladakh have measured its nodulation and nitrogen fixation at temperatures where cultivated chickpea fails entirely. Those traits, rather than yield, are what breeders want, and the species is now held in a number of gene banks as a cold-hardiness donor for future chickpea improvement.
Uses & Benefits
The seed is eaten in some high-altitude villages, usually parched or ground into flour, though the yield is small and the pods shatter easily. It is a famine food rather than a crop, and it has never been improved by selection.
In the garden it is a plant for an alpine trough or a gravel bed, where its mat habit and tiny leaves suit the scale. It needs full sun, perfect drainage and a dry winter, and it will not tolerate rich soil or competition from larger plants. It also makes a good subject for a scree bed among other Himalayan alpines. It is also grown by alpine enthusiasts who value a plant that flowers in the first warm week of the year.
Growing from Seed
Soak the seed for a day in warm water after nicking the coat, then sow in a gritty alpine mix at twelve to eighteen degrees. Keep the pot cool and bright; germination is slow, often three to five weeks, and damping off is the main risk in a warm room.
Grow the seedlings in deep, narrow pots to accommodate the taproot, and keep them in full sun. Plant out into a raised bed or trough with at least half grit, and protect from winter wet with a pane of glass. It is fully hardy in cold, as long as the crown stays dry. Keep it away from the damp corner where winter water collects, which is the one thing it cannot survive.
Our Take
The highest chickpea in the world, and a plant for a trough rather than a vegetable bed. Cold and drainage are easy; winter wet is what kills it.
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