Pisum sativum

Pisum sativum, the common pea (also known as the garden or field pea), is an herbaceous annual in the Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) family, originally from the Mediterraean basin and Near East, but now widely grown for its seedpod or legume (a simple dry fruit containing several seeds and splitting along seams on two sides). The term “pea” can refer to small spherical seed or to the pod. The name “peas” is also used to describe other edible seeds from the Fabaceae, such as chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan), cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata), and sweet peas (several Lathyrus spp.), which are grown as ornamentals.

P. sativum cultivars are either low growing (less than 0.75 meters) or vining. The vining cultivars grow thin tendrils from leaves that coil around any available support and can climb to be 1–2 m high. P. sativum is a cool-season crop grown in many parts of the world; planting can take place from winter to early summer depending on location. The distinctive flower has 5 fused sepals, 5 petals, 10 stamens (9 fused in a staminal tube and 1 stamen is free), and one carpel, which develops into a pod with multiple peas. The average pea weighs 0.1 to 0.4 grams.

Peas appear to have been cultivated for nearly 7,000 years. The earliest archaeological finds of peas come from Neolithic Syria, Turkey and Jordan. In Egypt, evidence of peas dates from ca. 4800–4400 BC.

Peapods are botanically a fruit, but peas are called a vegetable in cooking. They are used as a vegetable, fresh, frozen or canned, and some varieties, such as split peas, are dried; these varieties are typically called field peas. Along with broad beans and lentils, these formed an important part of the diet of most people in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe during the Middle Ages. By the 17th and 18th centuries it had become popular to eat peas "green," or fresh, while they are immature and right after they are picked, especially in France and England. The popularity of green peas spread to North America, where Thomas Jefferson grew more than 30 cultivars of peas on his estate. The “pease porridge” of nursery-rhyme fame is a traditional dish in England made from yellow dried peas.

Peas are high in fiber, protein, vitamins (folate and vitamin C), minerals (iron, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc), and lutein (a yellow carotenoid pigment that benefits vision). Dry weight is about one-quarter protein and one-quarter carbohydrates (mostly sugars).

Global production in 2009 of green peas was 16 million tons, harvested from 2.1 million hectares, with an additional 10.5 million tons of dried peas, from 6.2 million hectares (FAOSTAT 2011). In some agricultural regions, such as the Punjab in India, peas are second only to wheat as a cultivated crop (Singla et al. 2006).

"Maharashtra: Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Pune, Satara"

Mediterranean region, southeast Europe, west Asia.

Pisum sativum L.:
Bolivia (South America)
Canada (North America)
Colombia (South America)
Costa Rica (Mesoamerica)
Ecuador (South America)
El Salvador (Mesoamerica)
Greenland (North America)
Guatemala (Mesoamerica)
Honduras (Mesoamerica)
Mexico (Mesoamerica)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Canada

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Cosmopolitan in cultivation.

Annual, often climbing, stem glabrous, glaucous. Leaf paripinnately compound, rachis ending in a branched tendril, leaflets 2-8, entire or dentate; stipules 1.5-8 cm long, obliquely ovate, toothed at least below, semi-amplexicaul at the base, peduncle ½ to twice as long as the stipule, 1-3-flowered. Calyx 8-15 mm long, teeth longer than the tube, subequal. Corolla white or vexillum lilac and reddish purple. Vexillum 16-30 mm long. Fruit 40-70 mm long, 12-17 mm broad.

Annual, Herbs, Vines, twining, climbing, Taproot present, Nodules present, Stems prostrate, trailing, or mat forming, Stems less than 1 m tall, Climbing by tendrils, Stems hollow, or spongy, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules green, triangu late to lanceolate or foliaceous, Stipules persistent, Stipules free, Stipules cordate, lobed, or sagittate, Stipules toothed or laciniate, Leaves compound, Leaves even pinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets 2, Leaflets 4, Leaflets 5-9, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Flowers solitary in axils, or appearing solitary, Flowers in axillary clusters or few-floweredracemes, 2-6 flowers, Inflorescence axillary, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx glabrous, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals white, Petals pinkish to rose, Petals blue, lavander to purple, or violet, Banner petal suborbicular, broadly rounded, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing petals incurved, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens diadelphous, 9 united, 1 free, Filaments hairy, villous, Style terete, Style sharply bent, Style hairy, Style hairy on one side only, Fr uit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit indehiscent, Fruit elongate, straight, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit inflated or turgid, Fruit glabrous or glabrate, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seed surface smooth, Seed surface wrinkled or rugose, Seeds olive, brown, or black.

1200-4000 m

Foodplant / sap sucker
Acyrthosiphon pisum sucks sap of live growth (young) of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / miner
solitary larva of Agromyza lathyri mines leaf of Pisum sativum

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / pathogen
oospore of Aphanomyces euteiches infects and damages rotten root of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / spot causer
pycnidium of Ascochyta coelomycetous anamorph of Ascochyta pinodella causes spots on live pod of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / spot causer
immersed, then erumpent, brownish pycnidium of Ascochyta coelomycetous anamorph of Ascochyta pisi causes spots on live seed of Pisum sativum
Remarks: season: 5-10

Foodplant / pathogen
Bean Yellow Mosaic virus infects and damages live Pisum sativum

Plant / resting place / on
adult of Bruchus atomarius may be found on Pisum sativum

Foodplant / feeds on
adult of Bruchus pisorum feeds on pollen of Pisum sativum
Remarks: season: 4-7(-9)

Foodplant / internal feeder
larva of Bruchus rufimanus feeds within seed of Pisum sativum

Plant / associate
adult of Bruchus rufipes is associated with Pisum sativum
Remarks: season: (late 3-)5-6(-11)

Plant / resting place / within
puparium of Chromatomyia horticola may be found in leaf-mine (end of) of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / internal feeder
caterpillar of Cydia nigricana feeds within live pea of Pisum sativum
Remarks: season: 7-8

Foodplant / feeds on
larva of Delia platura feeds on live seedling of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / pathogen
Ditylenchus dipsaci infects and damages live, swollen, stunted or malformed leaf of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / parasite
conidial anamorph of Erysiphe pisi var. pisi parasitises live pod of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / gall
Heterodera goettingiana causes gall of cysted root of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / feeds on
Kakothrips pisivorous feeds on live, misshapen leaf of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / miner
larva of Liriomyza congesta mines leaf of Pisum sativum
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / miner
larva of Liriomyza pisivora mines leaf of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / pathogen
amphigenous colony of Mycocentrospora anamorph of Mycocentrospora acerina infects and damages live leaf of Pisum sativum
Remarks: captive: in captivity, culture, or experimentally induced

Foodplant / spot causer
pycnidium of Ascochyta coelomycetous anamorph of Mycosphaerella pinodes causes spots on live leaf of Pisum sativum

Plant / associate
extensive, velvety colony of Cladosporium dematiaceous anamorph of Mycosphaerella tulasnei is associated with seed of Pisum sativum
Other: unusual host/prey

Plant / resting place / within
puparium of Ophiomyia orbiculata may be found in stem of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / pathogen
Pea Enation Mosaic virus infects and damages poorly developed, rough, crinkly pod of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / pathogen
Pea Mosaic virus infects and damages mottled leaf of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / parasite
sporangium of Peronospora viciae parasitises live pod of Pisum sativum
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / spot causer
pycnidium of Phoma coelomycetous anamorph of Phoma pinodella causes spots on live pod of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / spot causer
scattered, brownish-yellow then black pycnidium of Septoria coelomycetous anamorph of Septoria pisi causes spots on fading leaf of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / feeds on
adult of Sitona lineatus feeds on live leaf of Pisum sativum
Remarks: season: 6-

Foodplant / feeds on
larva of Sitona macularius feeds on Pisum sativum

Foodplant / parasite
telium of Uromyces pisi-sativi parasitises live leaf (petiole) of Pisum sativum

Foodplant / parasite
pycnium of Uromyces viciae-fabae var. viciae-fabae parasitises live Pisum sativum

Annual.

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 4
Specimens with Barcodes: 9
Species With Barcodes: 1

Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

These species are introduced in Switzerland.