496 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



and there is quite as wide a range in the color of the testa. 

 On uniformly colored seeds, the testa may be black, 

 brown, purple, buff, maroon, pink, or white; or where 

 more than one color is concerned, it may be speckled, 

 usually blue speckles on a buff or brown background ; 

 or marbled, commonly brown on buff or on maroon; or 

 both marbled and speckled. When the seed is not uni- 

 formly colored, the second color is concentrated about the 

 eye or hilum in various forms, or else blotched in an irregu- 

 lar saddle-shaped area. White cowpeas may be eyed or 

 blotched with any of the other colors, or the white may 

 be exposed only on a small spot at the chalazal end of the 

 seed. In all cowpeas, the germ is yellowish. 



606. Correlations. But few definite correlations of 

 characters have been observed in cowpeas, and much 

 breeding work is necessary before these can be considered 

 proven. As in all annual legumes, earliness is nearly 

 always associated with lessened growth. White-flowered 

 cowpeas have their seeds white or mainly so, or coffee- 

 colored. All other colors of seeds are associated with 

 purple flowers. Purple coloration of the leaves or of 

 the leaf -nodes is nearly always associated with purple 

 flowers. 



607. Important varieties. Among the very numerous 

 varieties of cowpeas, comparatively few are important 

 either commercially or agronomically. Unfortunately, 

 some of the commercial names are based wholly on the 

 color of the seed, and thus comprise a number of distinct 

 varieties under a single designation. 



Whippoorwill. Probably more than half of the 

 acreage of cowpeas in the United States is devoted to this 

 variety. It is easily distinguished by its subreniform 

 seeds, which are buff marbled with brown. This variety 



