Red Lammasorigin:United Kingdom first record:1660 habit:Winter grain colour:red/brown references >>> ID images >>>includes wheats >>> Old Kent Red |
Red Lammas is the classic red winter milling landrace wheat of England from the Tudor period to Napoleonic wars. First recorded by John Ray in 1660 and described by Ellis in 1774 as follows
Red Lammas. As Wheat is the King of Grain, so this Sort has been deemed, hitherto, The King of Wheats
Ellis also describes Red Lammas as being sown with Rough Chaff White (aka Kent Old Hoary) to make the best milling mix.
About us, it (Rough Chaff White) is more and more sown, as being a Sort that thrives well in our inclosed, poor, gravelly, chalky, and light loamy Soils ; and, by many, this, or any other of the white Wheats, is much sown in a Mixture with red or yellow Lammas, because this Wheat will help to keep off Blights from that, but is a most proper Sort to sell and grind with the red or yellow Lammas, by Reason one is of a short, brittle Nature, and the other tough; which prevents the White from running too much into small Bran
Red Lammas had several well known variants specifically Old Kent Red and Old Burwell - named from the village of Burwell on Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border where the best Red Lammas seed was reputed to come from. Clover's Red is mentioned by Le Couteur alongside Burwell as "Brown Lammas" types but seems probable this is synonymous with description as "Red Lammas" type.
After Napoleonic Wars with Enclosures and rising wheat imports, English growing of Red Lammas and wheat for milling in general was gradually replaced by higher yielding but poorer quality early cultivars often called "Prolific" from their prolific tillering or "Squarehead" from their typical compact square cross-section ear morphology more suited for animal fodder or biscuit manufacture see Varietal Innovation and the Competitiveness of the British Cereals Sector, 1760-1930
Reference #1
Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium by John Ray, 1660 LINKReference #2
The Modern Husbandman, Oct - Dec by William Ellis, 1744 LINK"This by many is called Fire-wheat because it has a red Straw, a red Ear and a red Kernel; and it makes the whitest of Flour some are of Opinion because it has a thicker, more guttery, and tougher Skin than the pirky and white Sorts of Wheat cuts into larger Flakes of Bran than them and thus yields rather less but whiter Flour and more Bran however this is certain that red Lammas has not only a whiter Flour than these but a much softer and finer and often a bigger Body which makes it the most agreeable Sort for the greatest Quality and therefore is the fittest Wheat to sow on the best Land on Account of its fetching the best Price at Market."
Other reference
Varietal innovation and the competitiveness of the British cereals sector, 1760-1930 by John R. Walton, 1999 LINK
Red Lammas TR24440 link
Lammas CGN05550 link
Lammas Red CGN04381 link
Red Lammas UK 987 link
Old Kent Red link
Germplasm
Clover's Red RCA (HUN) #RCAT004014
Clover's Red VIR (RUS) #k6263
Clovers Red IPK (DEU) #TRI 1129
Clovers Red IHAR (POL) #1405
Clovers Red IPK (DEU) #TRI 21468
Cower's Red Wheat CGN (NLD) #CGN04320
Cowers Red RICP (CZE) #01C0100799
Lammas CGN (NLD) #CGN05550
Lammas IHAR (POL) #1724
Lammas AWCC (AUS) #10756
Lammas VIR (RUS) #k21499
Lammas Red CGN (NLD) #CGN04381
Lammas Red IHAR (POL) #1725
Lammas Red IPK (DEU) #TRI 1126
Lammas Red IPK (DEU) #TRI 24440
Michigan Amber GRU-JIC (GBR) #W6516
Michigan Amber VIR (RUS) #k5229
Michigan Amber USDA-ARS (USA) #CItr 11379
Old Burrel GRU-JIC (GBR) #W1168
Old Kent Red GRU-JIC (GBR) #W10033
Old Kent Red CGN (NLD) #CGN05630
Red IHAR (POL) #1227
Red Lammas AWCC (AUS) #10762
Red Lammas IPK (DEU) #TRI 24664
Red Lammas AWCC (AUS) #12108
Red Lammas GRU-JIC (GBR) #W0987
Red May VIR (RUS) #k22157
Red May USDA-ARS (USA) #CItr 5620
Red May USDA-ARS (USA) #CItr 12023