The grain legumes which evolved in the Mediterranean basin have a particular claim to the attention of students of crop plant evolution. Not only have they played an important supporting role to that of the cereals in sustaining the development of the classical civilisations of the area, but it is arguable that the scientific study of crop evolution began here. The crops of the Mediterranean region were among the most familiar to Linnaeus (1753) and to de Candolle (1886), the father of the scientific study of crop origins. De Candolle appreciated that non-biological disciplines could contribute valuable information on the evolutionary history of crop plants. For example, records of contemporary crops in classical writings such as Virgil's Georgics are readily accessible and useful. Representations in art and artefacts are equally valuable. The evidence shedding light on crop histories varies widely from crop to crop in quantity and quality. This depends on the significance of the crop in economic, social and religious life, and also on what records or materials have survived and been discovered. The evidence, although from a wide variety of sources, can only be fragmentary but it can nevertheless be very informative. In any event we have, perforce, to do the best we can with it.

In the present treatment I propose to treat each crop individually in the first place and then conclude with a brief comparative consideration of this group of pulses.