''Lathyrus cicera'' is a species of
wild pea known by the common names red pea, red vetchling
and flatpod peavine. It is native to Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, and it is known from other places as an
introduced species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
. This is a hairless annual herb producing a slightly winged stem. The leaves are each made up of two leaflike linear leaflets long. They also bear branched, curling
tendril
In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as '' Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tend ...
s. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are forme ...
holds a single pea flower wide which is a varying shade of red. The fruit is a hairless
dehiscent
Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...
legume pod.
This is one pea species known to cause
lathyrism
Lathyrism is a condition caused by eating certain legumes of the genus ''Lathyrus''. There are three types of lathyrism: '' neurolathyrism'', '' osteolathyrism'', and '' angiolathyrism'', all of which are incurable, differing in their symptoms ...
; nevertheless, as ''cicerchia'' it figured among the comestibles enjoyed by the fortunate Milanese, listed at length by
Bonvesin de la Riva in his "Marvels of Milan" (1288).
[Noted by John Dickie, ''Delizia! The Epic History of Italians and Their Food'' (New York, 2008), p. 37.]
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment*
Photo gallery
cicera
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Flora of Europe
Flora of North Africa
{{Fabeae-stub