Pea
Legume
Pea, any of several species, comprising hundreds of varieties, of herbaceous annual plants belonging to the family Leguminosae, grown virtually worldwide for their edible seeds. Pisum sativum is the common garden pea of the Western world. While their origins have not been definitely determined, it is known that these legumes are one of the oldest of cultivated crops; fossil remains have been found in Swiss lake villages. Wild peas grew in medieval Britain. Peas in the United States were introduced in early colonial times. Common garden peas in a monastery garden in Austria in the mid-1800s were used by the ...