''Lathyrus latifolius'', the perennial peavine, perennial pea, broad-leaved everlasting-pea, or just everlasting pea, is a robust, sprawling

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the pea family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

. It is native to Europe but is present on other continents, such as North America and Australia, where it is most often seen along roadsides.Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p. 70

Morphology

''Lathyrus latifolius'' has winged hairless stems, and alternating blue green compound leaves consisting of a single pair of leaflets and a winged petiole about 2 in long. The leaflets are narrowly

ovate Ovate may refer to: * Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ova ...

or oblong-ovate, smooth along the margins, hairless and up to 3 in long and 1 in across. There is a branched tendril between the leaflets.

Racemes

Short

racemes A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

of 4–11 flowers are produced from the axils of the leaves. The flowers, which are unscented, are about –1 in across with a typical structure for ''

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is wide ...

'', with an upper standard and lower keel, enclosed by lateral

petals Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usually ...

. There are 5 petals, which are purplish pink, fading with age. There is a green calyx with 5 teeth, often unequal. The blooming period lasts about 2 months during the summer and early autumn.Weedy Wildflowers of Illinois: Everlasting pea
/ref>

Seeds

The flowers are followed by hairless flattened seedpods, about 2 in long and in wide, with several seeds inside. The seedpod, which is initially green, gradually turns brown, splitting open into curled segments, flinging out the

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

. The seeds are dark and oblong to reniform in shape.

Reproduction

''Lathyrus latifolius'' can reproduce

vegetatively Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or spec ...

from its taproot and rhizomes, or by reseeding.

Cultivation and habits

''Lathyrus latifolius'' is a

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

(climber), which can reach 6 feet or more by means of twining

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 tendr ...

s, but in open areas sprawls. It is frost-hardy, long-lived, and slowly spreading. The foliage becomes rather ragged and yellowish by the end of summer.C. Brickell, Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, 1996, Royal Horticultural Society, London, . It requires partial to full sun, and

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

or clay-loam soil that is moist, mesic, or slightly dry. Unlike the related

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year ** Yearbook ** Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), ...

sweet pea The sweet pea, ''Lathyrus odoratus'', is a flowering plant in the genus ''Lathyrus'' in the family Fabaceae ( legumes), native to Sicily, southern Italy and the Aegean Islands. It is an annual climbing plant, growing to a height of , where sui ...

, ''Lathyrus odoratus'', with which it may be confused, it has no scent. While grown as a garden plant it may be pervasive and difficult to remove. Because of this, this species is often considered to be a

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

despite its attractive appearance. Numerous

cultivars A cultivar is a type of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and when Plant propagation, propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and st ...

have been selected as garden subjects, of which the following have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Relations to insect life

Bumblebees A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

pollinate the flowers.

Butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

visit the flowers for their

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

, but do not pollinate. ''

Epicauta fabricii ''Epicauta fabricii'', the ashgray blister beetle, is a species of blister beetle in the family Meloidae Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,5 ...

'' (Fabricius

blister beetle Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their ...

), the caterpillars of '' Apantesis phyllira'' (Oithona

tiger moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...

) and some

herbivores A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

feed on the leaves. However, the seeds are poisonous.

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual Treatment

USDA Plants Profile
*
Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q158325 latifolius Flora of Europe Flora of Serbia Perennial plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus