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Sweet Pea
(redirected from Lathyrus odoratus)

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sweet pea, annual climbing plant (Lathyrus odoratus) of the family Leguminosae (pulse pulse, in botany, common name for members of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae), a large plant family, called also the pea, or legume, family. Numbering about 650 genera and 17,000 species, the family is third largest, after the asters and the orchids.
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 family), a legume native to S Europe but, since its introduction to horticulture c.1700, widely cultivated for its fragrant flowers. There are three main types: dwarf, summer flowering (garden sweet peas), and winter flowering (florists' sweet peas). As cut flowers, sweet peas are one of the more important of florists' plants and are available in a wide range of shades. The vines climb by tendrils and require support. The sweet pea is also a honey plant and the source of an essential oil used in perfumery, although today this oil is more often made synthetically. The green pea pea, hardy, annual, climbing leguminous plant (Pisum sativum) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), grown for food by humans at least since the early Bronze Age; no longer known in the wild form.
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 and chickpea chickpea, annual plant (Cicer arietinum) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), cultivated since antiquity for the somewhat pealike seeds, which are often used as food and forage, principally in India and the Spanish-speaking countries.
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 are related but of separate genera. The term pea is sometimes used generally for a seed in the pod of any leguminous plant. Sweet peas are classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta , division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called the flowering plants, or angiosperms. The angiosperms have leaves, stems, and roots, and vascular, or conducting, tissue (xylem and phloem).
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, class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Leguminosae.

sweet pea

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Sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus)
(credit: Sven Samelius)
Annual plant (Lathyrus odoratus) of the pea family (see legume), native to Italy and widely cultivated elsewhere for its beautiful, fragrant flowers. The long (4–6 ft, or 1.2–2 m), vinelike stem climbs by means of tendrils and bears featherlike leaves. White, pink, red, violet, or purple flowers, reminiscent of butterflies in shape, are borne singly or in clusters of two to four. The fruit is a hairy pod about 2 in. (5 cm) long. Hundreds of varieties of sweet pea have been developed. The plant was the subject of important genetics experiments by Reginald Crundall Punnett and William Bateson.


sweet pea
a climbing leguminous plant, Lathyrus odoratus, of S Europe, widely cultivated for its butterfly-shaped fragrant flowers of delicate pastel colours

Sweet Pea 

(Lathyrus odoratus), an annual grassy plant of the genus Lathyrus, family Leguminae. It grows wild in southern Italy and on the island of Sicily. The sweet pea has long been cultivated as a decorative plant. The stems are delicate and weak, reaching a.height of 0.5-2 m; the leaves have a pair of leaflets and an axis, ending in a tendril that attaches to supporting objects. The tendril is branched. The blossoms are large and aromatic and grow in clusters. The magenta corolla grows up to 3.5 cm in diameter; cultivated varieties may reach up to 5-6 cm and have varying coloration. Sweet peas are used in gardens and parks; to decorate walls, enclosures, and balconies; and as cut flowers.



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