''Lathyrus hirsutus'' is a species of
wild pea known by several common names, including Caley pea, singletary pea,
hairy vetchling,
and Austrian winter pea. It is native to Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia, and it is known from other continents, including North America, 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 ther ...
. This is an annual herb producing a winged stem and leaves each made up of two leaflike leaflets with a branching, coiled
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 ...
. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
holds one or two pink, blue, or bicolored pea flowers each 1 to 1.5 centimeters wide. The fruit is a
dehiscent legume pod covered in hairs with each hair growing from a minute bulbous base. The rest of the plant is generally hairless.
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment*
Photo gallery
hirsutus
Flora of Europe
Flora of Serbia
Flora of Western Asia
Flora of North Africa
Flora of Egypt
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
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