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Lathyrus japonicus Willd.

Sea pea (en), Gesse de mer (fr), Gesse du Japon au sens large (fr), Gesse du japon (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Lathyrus

Characteristics

Herbs perennial, 15-50 cm tall. Stem stoloniferous, creeping, wingless. Leaves with branched or simple tendril; stipules sagittate, 10-30 mm, glabrous; leaflets 3-5-paired, long elliptic or obovate, 25-33 × 11-18 mm, glabrous, with reticu­late veins visible on both surfaces. Raceme shorter than leaf, 2-5-flowered. Calyx campanulate, 9-10(-12) mm, glabrous; teeth unequal, longest tooth 5-6 mm. Corolla purple, ca. 21 mm; standard orbicular, with claw; wings narrowly obovate, occa­sionally white. Ovary linear, glabrous or rarely hairy. Legume brown or purple-brown, compressed, ca. 5 cm, glabrous or puberulent. Seeds subglobose. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.
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A herb. It keeps growing from year to year. It can be climbing or trailing. The stems are 50-80 cm long. The leaves are waxy and a non shiny green. They are 5-10 cm long with leaflets along the stalk. There are 2-5 pairs of leaflets with a tendril at the end. The flowers are broad and have a dark purple standard and blue wings. They are in groups of about 12 flowers. The pod are brown and 5 cm long. The seeds are a flattened round shape.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support climber
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread anemochory
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.6
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) 0.4
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It is a temperate plant. It grows on mountains. It grows on sand and gravel beaches.
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Sandy coasts from Alaska to N. California.
Light 6-7
Soil humidity 3-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity 4-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 3-7

Usage

The young seeds are cooked. They should possibly only be eaten in small amounts. The young leaves in spring are cooked and eaten.
Uses fixation of sand dunes forage medicinal
Edible leaves seeds
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) 20 - 30
Germination temperacture (C°) 12 - 18
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment soaking
Minimum temperature (C°) -35
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Lathyrus japonicus habit picture by Frank Sundermeyer (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Lathyrus japonicus leaf picture by Pierre TONNEL (cc-by-sa)
Lathyrus japonicus leaf picture by Michel G (cc-by-sa)
Lathyrus japonicus leaf picture by Vesa Silander (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Lathyrus japonicus flower picture by collin pl (cc-by-sa)
Lathyrus japonicus flower picture by Alyona Appel (cc-by-sa)
Lathyrus japonicus flower picture by Guilhem Espert (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Lathyrus japonicus fruit picture by Pierre-Paul Nuckle (cc-by-sa)
Lathyrus japonicus fruit picture by Diego Maninetti (cc-by-sa)
Lathyrus japonicus fruit picture by Vesa Silander (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Lathyrus japonicus world distribution map, present in Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Greenland, Iceland, Japan, Korea (Republic of), Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Sweden, and United States of America

Conservation status

Lathyrus japonicus threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30381438-2
WFO ID wfo-0000213813
COL ID 3SKW3
BDTFX ID 75209
INPN ID 105206
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Lathyrus mutabilis Lathyrus sanguineus Orobus sylvestris Orobus japonicus Lathyrus maritimus f. pubescens Lathyrus japonicus var. typicus Lathyrus japonicus var. pilosiusculus Lathyrus maritimus var. velutinus Lathyrus japonicus var. aleuticus Lathyrus japonicus subsp. pubescens Lathyrus japonicus subsp. japonicus Lathyrus pisiformis Lathyrus japonicus f. japonicus Lathyrus japonicus

Lower taxons

Lathyrus japonicus var. acutifolius Lathyrus japonicus var. japonicus Lathyrus japonicus var. parviflorus Lathyrus japonicus var. maritimus
WorldFloraDB 2024