Cicer songaricum Seeds | Songar Cicer
LATIN NAME: Cicer songaricum
COMMON NAME: Songar Cicer
Plant Profile
Songar Cicer is a perennial wild relative of the chickpea, twenty to forty centimetres tall, with fine pinnate leaves, a woody base and small purple-pink flowers carried singly in the leaf axils. The pods are short, one or two-seeded and covered in long hairs that catch the light like a fringe.
It comes from the high, dry valleys of Central Asia, from the Tien Shan and Pamir into Afghanistan, where it grows on stony slopes and gravel terraces between three thousand and four thousand metres. Cold winters, dry summers and thin soil are all part of its constitution, and it has no patience with rich ground or summer irrigation. In spring the new growth emerges from the woody crown before the ground has warmed, and it flowers within a few weeks of that start.
Science & Biotechnology
Cicer holds about forty species, all but the cultivated chickpea wild, and they are divided between annuals and perennials. Cicer songaricum is a perennial in the group with pinnate leaves and inflated pods, and it has been used in crossing work as a source of perennial habit and cold tolerance.
The genus has become a genomic reference point: the chickpea genome was sequenced in 2013, and wild relatives are now screened for drought and disease resistance genes that the crop has lost. Songar Cicer has been evaluated for ascochyta resistance and for tolerance of low temperature at flowering, both of which matter to breeders working on the crop.
Uses & Benefits
It has no crop use itself; the pods are small and the seed is hard. Its value is genetic, as a donor of hardiness and as a bridge in wide crosses with the cultivated chickpea, where the hybrids need embryo rescue to survive.
For gardeners it is an unusual plant for a dry rock garden or a gravel bed, where its fine foliage and small flowers appeal to anyone who likes legumes. It also fixes nitrogen, which makes it a useful filler in poor soil where little else will grow. Sown in a gravel bed it will seed about gently, never enough to become a nuisance.
Growing from Seed
The seed coat is hard, so nick it with a file and soak overnight before sowing. Sow into a gritty mix at fifteen to twenty degrees, cover lightly, and keep it cool and bright. Germination is usually ten days to three weeks.
The seedling develops a deep taproot fast, so sow it in its final pot or in a deep root trainer. Grow it in full sun with sharp drainage, and keep it dry once established. It dies back to the woody base in winter and regrows from the crown in spring, so mark the plant before it disappears.
Our Take
A wild chickpea with a future in breeding and a modest present in the rock garden. Hard seed, deep roots and dry ground suit it.
Related Reading
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