Fava Beans

[Photo from link.]

I've eaten fava beans (Vicia faba) from time to time, but I've never grown them. I was recently perusing some postings from blogs I occasion and found an interesting post. The post contains a wonderful series of photos of fava bean flowers in the author's garden, ranging in shades of red/pink and brown/black. A forum discussion revealed that these variations were the result of crossing the varieties "Crimson Flowered" and "Red Epicure". After searching around a bit, I found that for the vast majority of fava bean varieties the flowers are only red/pink or brown/black.

The flowers are impressive enough in the garden already. Some improvement in flower size or color range would be awesome. My biology background leads me to think of at least two strategies.

1. Hybridize F. faba with related species with different flower colors.
2. Find rare varieties of F. faba with different colors.

1. Hybridization? I like this strategy generally, but the usefulness of the strategy depends on the plant being worked with. It turns out that there are no known species which can be used to produce hybrid seed with V. faba. There is some research looking into why crosses don't work. F. faba as seed parent crossed with V. galilaea and V. johannis both appear to result in fertilized eggs. F. faba as pollen parent crossed with V. bithynica also appears to result in fertilized eggs. The fertilized eggs don't seem to result in viable seeds, however. There is some later developmental failure which interferes with the cross. It might be possible to use embryo rescue to allow some of those crosses to grow up. This is well outside my skill set for now.

[Photo from link.]

2. Finding old/rare varieties relies on such varieties still existing. The internet provides us with an amazing ability to find things, so long as someone, somewhere has put it online in some form. The image at right and others suggest there's a great deal of genetic diversity around, which might include interesting traits impacting flower color. The task of getting seeds to trial may be rather involved, but it is definitely a way forward.


References:

• growingfoodsavingseeds.blogspot.com/2015/06/colourful-broad-bean-flowers.html 
• www.growingfoodsavingseeds.co.uk/forum/breeding-and-genetics/new-channel/2938-broad-bean-fava-bean-flower-colour
• books.google.com/books?id=toHsCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=Vicia+faba+hybrids+with+other+species&source=bl&ots=rokyVBhghu&sig=PsZSX6w__E1oM0fPdcvQAgvaX0k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAGoVChMI-JuS1P2KxwIVAYuSCh2rngTg#v=onepage&q=Vicia%20faba%20hybrids%20with%20other%20species&f=false
• Fava varieties:
• "Crimson Flowered": www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/vegetable-seeds/pea-and-bean-seeds/broad-bean-crimson-flowered/4772TM
• "Red Epicure": davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40640/
• misc: www.heritageharvestseed.com/beansbroad.html
• misc: prseeds.ca/seed_categories/beans/favas-broad-beans/