This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Lathyrus is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Sweet peas | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Grass Vetchling, Lathyrus nissolia
|
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Species | ||||||||||||||||
|
See text. |
The genus Lathyrus consists of the sweet peas and vetchlings, flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae. There are approximately 160 species of Lathyrus; they are native to temperate areas, with a breakdown of 52 species in Europe, 30 species in North America, 78 in Asia, 24 in tropical East Africa, and 24 in temperate South America.[1] There are annual and perennial species which may be climbing or bushy. This genus has numerous sections, including Orobus, which was once a separate genus.[2]
The genus includes the garden sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) and the perennial everlasting pea (Lathyrus latifolius). Flowers on these cultivated species may be rose, red, maroon, pink, white, yellow, purple or blue and some are bicolored; they are also fragrant, which makes them a very popular garden plant. Cultivated species are susceptible to fungal infections including downy and powdery mildew. Lathyrus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Grey Chi, Latticed Heath (both recorded on Meadow Vetchling) and Chionodes braunella.
Other species are grown for food, including L. sativus and L. cicera, and less commonly L. ochrus and L. clymenum. L. tuberosus is grown as a root vegetable for its starchy edible tuber.
The seeds of some Lathyrus species contain a toxic amino acid and if eaten in large quantities can cause lathyrism, a serious disease.[3]
Selected species
- Lathyrus angulatus (Angled Pea)
- Lathyrus annuus (Red Fodder Pea)
- Lathyrus aureus (Golden Pea)
- Lathyrus biflorus (Twoflower Pea)
- Lathyrus chloranthus
- Lathyrus cicera (Red Pea)
- Lathyrus delnorticus (Del Norte Pea)
- Lathyrus hirsutus (Hairy Vetchling)
- Lathyrus japonicus (Sea Pea)
- Lathyrus jepsonii (Delta Tule Pea)
- Lathyrus lanszwertii (Nevada Pea)
- Lathyrus latifolius (Everlasting Pea)
- Lathyrus linifolius (Bitter Vetch)
- Lathyrus littoralis (Silky Beach Pea)
- Lathyrus nervosus (Lord Anson's Blue Pea)
- Lathyrus nissolia (Grass Vetchling)
- Lathyrus odoratus (Sweet Pea)
- Lathyrus palustris (Marsh Pea)
- Lathyrus polyphyllus (Leafy Pea)
- Lathyrus pratensis (Meadow Vetchling)
- Lathyrus sativus (Indian Pea)
- Lathyrus splendens (Pride of California)
- Lathyrus sulphureus (Snub Pea)
- Lathyrus sylvestris (Flat Pea-vine)
- Lathyrus tingitanus (Tangier Pea)
- Lathyrus torreyi (Torrey's Peavine)
- Lathyrus tuberosus (Tuberous Pea)
- Lathyrus vestitus (Pacific Pea)
Notes
- ^ Asmussen, Conny B; Liston, Aaron (March 1998). "Chloroplast DNA Characters, Phylogeny, and Classification of Lathyrus (Fabaceae)". American Journal of Botany 85 (3): 387. doi:.
- ^ Fred, Edwin Broun; Baldwin, Ira Lawrence; McCoy, Elizabeth (1932). Root Nodule Bacteria and Leguminous Plants. UW-Madison Libraries Parallel Press, 142. ISBN 1-893311-28-7.
- ^ Mark V. Barrow; Charles F. Simpson; Edward J. Miller (1974). "Lathyrism: A Review". The Quarterly Review of Biology 49 (2): 101–128. doi:.
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 15 August 2008, at 17:49.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Lathyrus".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.