Pea

Pea
Peas are contained within a pod
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Tribe:	Vicieae
Genus:	Pisum
Species:	P. sativum
Binomial name
Pisum sativum L.

A pea, although treated as a vegetable in cooking, is botanically a fruit; the term is most commonly used to describe the small spherical seeds or the pods of the legume Pisum sativum.^[1] This was the original model organism used by Gregor Mendel in his early work on genetics.

The name is also used to describe other edible seeds from the Fabaceae like the pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), the chickpea, the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and the seeds from several species of Lathyrus.

P. sativum is an annual plant. It is a cool season crop, planted in winter. The average pea weighs between 0.1 and 0.36 grams.^[2] The species is as a fresh vegetable, but is also grown to produce dry peas like the split pea. These varieties are typically called field peas.

P. sativum has been cultivated for thousands of years, the sites of cultivation have been described in southern Syria and southeastern Turkey, and some argue that the cultivation of peas with wheat and barley seems to be associated with the spread of Neolithic agriculture into Europe.^[3]

1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary - Pea
2. ↑ "Pea".
3. ↑ Zohary, Daniel and Hopf, Maria (2000). Domestication of Plants in the Old World, third edition. Oxford: University Press. ISBN 0-19-850356-3 p. 106