Classical name for the pea.

Mostly tendril-climbing annual herbs. Leaves with 1-4 pairs of oval leaflets, the terminal leaflet represented by a bristle or branched tendril; stipules leafy, often stem-clasping. Flowers 1-3, axillary. Calyx teeth large and leafy. Style bearded along 1 side. Fruit pod flattened to cylindrical, bivalved, with roundish seeds.

Grown as the edible pea. The Sweet Pea is in the genus Lathyrus.

5 species from WAsia and the Mediterranean.

Seed.

Grown since antiquity for the edible peas and pods, sometimes as animal forage.

Stipules stem-clasping; leaflets pinnate with a terminal tendril; style bearded along 1 side.

Murray (1999).

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Fabaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.