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Grass Pea
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Grass Pea
ative Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Grass Pea, Chickling pea, Indian vetch • Gujarati: लांग Lang • Hindi: खेसारी Khesari, लतरी Latari • Nepali: खेसारी Khesari • Manipuri: ꯍꯋꯥꯢ ꯀꯁꯥꯔꯤ Hawai kasari • Marathi: लाग Laag, लाख Lakh • Tamil: கெஸரீ பருப்பு Kesari paruppu • Telugu: Lamka
Botanical name: Lathyrus sativus    Family: Fabaceae (pea family)

Grass Pea is a remarkable azure blue colored near relative of the common sweet pea. The blue color is very rare in peas. It is an annual herb, 1-2 ft tall. Stem is nearly berect, hairless, winged. Leaves have tendril at tip; axis winged. Stipules are semiarrow shaped, 1.8-2.5 cm x 2-5 mm; leaflets 1-paired, lanceshaped to linear, 1.8-2.5 cm x 2-5 mm, with parallel veins, margin entire. Flowers are borne 1 or 2 together; axis 3-6 cm. Sepal-cup bellshaped, nearly equally toothed, 2-3 times as long as tube. Flower are white, blue, or pink, 1.2-1.5 cm. Pods are nearly elliptic, 2.5-3.5 cm, 2-winged along sutures. The peas can be boiled and eaten, and this species is cultivated in parts of Africa and Asia as a food crop. Floweringe June-July.

Identification credit: R.K. Nimai Singh Photographed in Imphal, Manipur.

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