The first Dragon's head variety released for rainfed conditions of Iran

      Dragon's head (Lallemantia iberica F. & C. M.) originated from Caucasian region. That has been found in Syria, Iran, and Iraq. Lallemantia iberica with vernacular name Balangu shahri and with edible uses of leaves, oil, seed and traditional uses as reconstituent, stimulant, diuretic and expectorant. In 2010 the local varieties from different parts of Iran collected and evaluated in raifed condition. During 10 years study on local varieties of this crop it has revealed that Kurdestan local variety had the best performance in different rainfed areas of Iran. So in 2020 It has been released as a first Dragon's head variety for rainfed condition in Iran and named Sara. This new variety introduced as suitable oilseed crop that can be planted in rotation with wheat, barely, chickpea and feed legumes under rainfed condition. This variety has about 42 percent oil content and high content of linolenic acid (Omega3). Sara with white flowers is well known as cold tolerance variety that can tolerate up to -17 ºC in seedling stage. The seed yield performance of this variety is about 900 kg/ha in semi-cold dryland areas.