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Pisum sativum

Garden Pea

GNRUnranked Found in 3 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →

GNRUnrankedGlobal Rank

Identity

Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.153130

Element CodePDFAB37010

Record TypeSPECIES

ClassificationSpecies

Classification StatusStandard

Name CategoryVascular Plant

KingdomPlantae

PhylumAnthophyta

ClassDicotyledoneae

OrderFabales

FamilyFabaceae

GenusPisum

Synonyms

Lathyrus oleraceusLam.

Other Common Names

garden pea (EN) Pois (FR)

Concept Reference

Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

Taxonomic Comments

Kartesz (1994, 1999) and FNA (vol. 11, 2023) recognize Pisum sativum. Kartesz (1994, 1999) didn't distinguish infraspecies, but FNA (vol. 11, 2023) distinguishes the quadranomials Pisum sativum ssp. sativum var. arvense and Pisum sativum ssp. sativum var. sativum. In contrast, Schaefer et al. (2012), Rix et al. (2023), and POWO (2025) recognize Pisum sativum as Lathyrus oleraceus. "Lamarck’s Flore Française was arranged like an analytical key, to help identification of the species. Most of the names followed Linnaeus, but in the case of the garden pea, he quoted Pisum sativum L. as a synonym of Lathyrus oleraceus, and under it he described the wild variety, Pisum arvense L., recognized by Tournefort, writing that it appeared to be naturalized in Alsace. Therefore Pisum sativum L. Sp. Pl.: 727 (1753) becomes Lathyrus oleraceus Lam., Fl. Franç. 2: 580 (1779)" (Kenicer & Parsons, 2021 cited by Rix et al. 2023).

Conservation Status

Change Date1994-03-22

Ecology & Habitat

Other Nations (1)

United StatesNNA

Province	Rank	Native
Massachusetts	SNA	No
Pennsylvania	SNA	No
Michigan	SNA	No
Delaware	SNA	No
Missouri	SNA	No
Mississippi	SNA	No
New Hampshire	SNA	No
New York	SNA	No
Maine	SNA	No
Connecticut	SNA	No
Utah	SNA	No
Washington	SNA	No
California	SNA	No
Kansas	SNA	No
Florida	SNA	No
Illinois	SNA	No
North Carolina	SNA	No
Oregon	SNA	No
Kentucky	SNA	No
Oklahoma	SNA	No
Louisiana	SNA	No
Vermont	SNA	No

Plant Characteristics

Economic Value (Genus)No

Roadless Areas (3)

California (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Fox Mountain	Los Padres National Forest	52,072

Washington (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Eagle Rock	Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest	34,064

Wyoming (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Middle Fork	Shoshone National Forest	51,772

References (6)

Flora of North America Editorial Committee (FNA). 2023. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Vol. 11. Magnoliophyta: Fabaceae, parts 1+2. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. xxvii + 1108 pp.
Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist and atlas with biological attributes for the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. First edition. In: Kartesz, J.T., and C.A. Meacham. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Plants of the World Online (POWO). 2025. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Online. Available: https://powo.science.kew.org/ (accessed 2025).
Rix, M., M. Nesbitt, and C. King. 2023. Plant Portrait, 1063. <i>Lathyrus oleraceus </i>Lam. Leguminosae. Curtiss Botanical Magazine 40(2): 197-205.
Schaefer, H., P. Hechenleitner, A. Santos-Guerra, M. Menezes de Sequeira, R.T. Pennington, G. Kenicer, and M.A. Carine. 2012. Systematics, biogeography, and character evolution of the legume tribe Fabeae with special focus on the middle-Atlantic Island lineages. BMC Evolutionary Biology 12(250): 1-19. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233989057_Systematics_biogeography_and_character_evolution_of_the_legume_tribe_Fabeae_with_special_focus_on_the_middle-Atlantic_island_lineages]