The cultivation and the descriptor of Vicia faba in Malta

Abstract

Vicia faba is a species of bean (Fabaceae) family. Although usually classified in the same genus Vicia as the vetches, some botanists treat it in a separate monotypic genus Faba. It is a rigid, erect plant 0.5-1.8 m tall, with stout stems and a square cross-section. The leaves are pinnate with 2-7 leaflets. The flowers are 1-2.5 cm long, with five petals; the standard petals are white, while the wing petals are white with a black spot. The fruit is a broad leathery pod of a green maturing to blackish-brown. Each pod contains a number of seeds, which are oval and flattened. Vicia faba has a diploid (2n) chromosome number of 12 (6 homologous pairs). Five pairs are acrocentric chromosomes and 1 pair is metacentric. Faba bean domestication occurred between 7000 and 4000 BC, and by the 3rd millennium B.C. it was widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean region. The evolution of the large-seeded type was much later (around 500 AD), and may have occurred in western Asia and in the Mediterranean region. Nowadays, faba bean is widely grown in temperate and subtropical regions and at higher altitudes in the tropics. In the Maltese Islands, broad beans or as it is known in Maltese - full - has been cultivated for hundreds of years. The Maltese variety of broad beans is different morphologically from the varieties which are imported. After hundreds of years of being cultivated locally, the local broad bean has adapted to the local environment and could be considered as a variety by now. This study of the Maltese broad beans describes its morphological characteristics.