A cool-season legume, Pisum sativum, domesticated in the Fertile Crescent alongside wheat, barley and lentil roughly ten thousand years ago, among the founding crops of Near Eastern agriculture. Peas are grown both for their fresh or dried seeds and, in some varieties, for their edible pods, and as a legume they fix nitrogen in the soil, making them valuable in crop rotation. The plant is also historically significant to science: Gregor Mendel's nineteenth century breeding experiments with garden pea plants established the basic laws of inheritance that founded the field of genetics. Canada, Russia and China are among the leading modern producers.
Facts
Scientific Name Domestication RegionNear East and Central Asia 2 Domesticated When (Circa)About 10000 BC (earliest archaeological finds) 2 Era
Era (category) In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Pea (Wikipedia)
- lead: peas are annual plants, with a life cycle of one year
- lead: a pulse or fodder crop
- lead: peas are eaten as a vegetable
View the Source2. Pea, Wikipedia
Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name Pisum sativum in 1753
Distribution and habitat
The earliest archaeological finds of peas date from about 10'000 B.C. Near East and Central Asia.
lead description or Wikipedia lead (crop-class)
A cool-season legume, Pisum sativum, domesticated in the Fertile Crescent alongside wheat, barley and lentil roughly ten thousand years ago, among the founding crops of Near Eastern agriculture.
lead description or Wikipedia lead (primary-uses)
Peas are grown both for their fresh or dried seeds and, in some varieties, for their edible pods, and as a legume they fix nitrogen in the soil, making them valuable in crop rotation.
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