# Common Pea

*Pisum sativum*

The common pea was the primary subject of Gregor Mendel's 19th-century experiments, which formed the basis of modern genetics.

- **Taxonomy:** Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Fabales › Fabaceae › Pisum
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** urban
- **Habitat:** Cultivated gardens, agricultural fields, and temperate disturbed areas.
- **Diet:** Autotrophic (Photosynthesis and Nitrogen fixation via root nodules).
- **Range:** Worldwide, Mediterranean Basin, Near East, North America, Europe
- **Size:** Climbing vines typically 1 to 2 meters in length.
- **Lifespan:** Annual (3 to 5 months)
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Agricultural pests like aphids, fungal infections such as powdery mildew, and extreme drought.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless and edible. These plants are safe to handle and consume. If you have a known legume allergy, avoid ingestion. No special precautions are needed when encountering them in a garden or field.

## About

The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum . Each pod contains several peas. Pea pods are botanically fruit, since they contain seeds and developed from the ovary of a (pea) flower. The name is also used to describe other edible seeds from the Fabaceae such as the pigeon pea ( Cajanus cajan ), the cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata ), and the seeds from several species of Lathyrus .

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/d98edf52-0201-4681-b2dc-e9a474838d6e
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/54522
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisum sativum
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/154111185/medium.jpg (Forest and Kim Starr, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.