Pisum sativum L.

Garden Pea; English Pea

Vine

Annual

Vascular

English Pea is an introduced cool season herbaceous annual in the Bean family (Fabaceae). It is native to the Mediterranean basin and the Near East. In Alabama it can be found at scattered locations statewide. English Pea occurs as a waif on roadsides and along railroads. It is also sometimes included in seed mixtures for food plots and erosion control. English Pea has a tap root and stems up to 4 feet in length, glabrous, green in color, sometimes glaucous, and climb or sprawl over other vegetation. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, pinnately compound with 2-8 leaflets, with the terminal leaflet modified into a branched tendril. Leaflets are ovate in outline, entire, and sessile. Each leaf is subtended by two large foliaceous toothed stipules. Flowers are produced in axillary racemes of 1-3 flowers. The calyx is campanulate with 5 teeth longer than the tube. The corolla is papilionaceous and varies in color from white to pink or purple. Each flower has 5 petals, 10 stamens in two groups (9 fused + 1 free) and a single superior glabrous ovary. The fruit is an inflated legume. English Pea is grown in many parts of the world for human consumption and numerous varieties are available. It is also planted for erosion control, animal fodder, and as a green manure. Gregor Mendel, the “father of genetics”, used English Pea as his model organism to investigate patterns of inheritance.—A. Diamond

**

Not Native

**