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Pisum sativum macrocarpon

Common name:	Sugar Pea	Family:	Leguminosae
Author:	Ser.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	E. Asia.
Habitat:	Plants are not known in a genuinely wild condition[200].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	4	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	P. humile[B,P] P. sativum[B,C,DUTCH,E,G,H,HPIC,L,P] P. sativum var. arvense[B,P] P. sativum var. humile[B,P] P. sativum var. macrocarpon[B,G,H,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Bezelye [E], Ch'Ing Hsiao Tou [E], Edible Pod Pea [H], Erwt [D], Garden Pea [B,L,P], Greenpea [E], Jung Shu [E], Peas [H], Petit Pois [E], Petits Pois [E], Pwes [E], Snow Pea [H], Sugar Pea [H], Wan Tou [E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	sativum = cultivated
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Fabales. Renamed to Fabaceae -- Pea family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Belgium China France Haiti India India(Santal) Turkey Us

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 2m. It is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to September, and the seeds ripen from July to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Self. Occasionally bees. The plant is self-fertile. It can fix Nitrogen. We rate it 4/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Edible Uses

Immature seedpods - raw or cooked[1, 2, 13, 16, 46]. Best harvested when the seeds are under-developed, the young swollen and succulent seedpods have a delicious sweet flavour that is just like a juicier form of garden peas[K].
Immature seeds - raw or cooked. Sweet and delicious, they can be added to salads, or lightly cooked[K]. A nutritional analysis is available[218].
The mature seeds are rich in protein and can be cooked as a vegetable or added to soups etc[183]. They can also be sprouted and added to salads, soups etc[183]. The mature seed can also be dried and ground into a powder, then used to enrich the protein content of flour when making bread etc[K].
The roasted seed is a coffee substitute[183].
Leaves and young shoots - cooked and used as a potherb[177, 183]. The young shoots taste like fresh peas, they are exceptionally tender and can be used in salads[206].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

The seed is contraceptive, fungistatic and spermacidal[218]. The dried and powdered seed has been used as a poultice on the skin where it has an appreciable affect on many types of skin complaint including acne[7].
The oil from the seed, given once a month to women, has shown promise of preventing pregnancy by interfering with the working of progesterone[218]. The oil inhibits endometrial development[240]. In trials, the oil reduced pregnancy rate in women by 60% in a 2 year period and 50% reduction in male sperm count was achieved[240].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Requires a well-drained moisture retentive soil[1, 16, 37]. Prefers a calcareous soil[37]. Prefers a pH in the range 6 to 7.5[200]. Prefers a rich loamy soil[1]. A light soil and a sheltered position is best for early sowings[1].
The sugar pea has a swollen, fibre-free and very sweet seedpod which is eaten whole when immature. There are several named varieties. This form is harder to grow for its mature seed, especially in damp climates, because the pod no longer has a cellulose membrane to protect the seed from damp and so the seed has a greater tendency to rot in wet weather.
Peas are good growing companions for radishes, carrots, cucumbers, sweet corn, beans and turnips[18, 20, 201]. They are inhibited by alliums, gladiolus, fennel and strawberries growing nearby[18, 20, 201]. There is some evidence that if Chinese mustard (Brassica juncea) is grown as a green manure before sowing peas this will reduce the incidence of soil-borne root rots[206].
This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[200]. When removing plant remains at the end of the growing season, it is best to only remove the aerial parts of the plant, leaving the roots in the ground to decay and release their nitrogen.

Propagation

Pre-soak the seed for 24 hours in warm water and then sow in situ in succession from early spring until early summer. A minimum temperature of 10° c is required for germination, which should take place in about 7 - 10 days. If you want to grow the peas to maturity then the seed needs to be sown by the middle of spring. You may need to protect the seed from the ravages of mice.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Latin and Worldwide Common Names From Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database by M. H. Porcher et. al. 1995 - 2000 Landcare Systems Research Laboratory, Department of Crop Production,Institute of Land and Food Resources, The University of Melbourne, Australia.

References for Pisum sativum (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[FAO] Data (Description, Habitat, Location and Use) from the FAO's Grassland Index.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

References for pisum sativum (a possible synonym).

[HP] PhotoFrom Henriette's plant pictures

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[7] Chiej. R. Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. MacDonald 1984 ISBN 0-356-10541-5
Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.

[13] Triska. Dr. Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn 1975 ISBN 0-600-33545-3
Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.

[16] Simons. New Vegetable Growers Handbook. Penguin 1977 ISBN 0-14-046-050-0
A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.

[18] Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. Companion Plants. Watkins 1979
Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.

[20] Riotte. L. Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Garden Way, Vermont, USA. 1978 ISBN 0-88266-064-0
Fairly good.

[37] Thompson. B. The Gardener's Assistant. Blackie and Son. 1878
Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[201] Allardice.P. A - Z of Companion Planting. Cassell Publishers Ltd. 1993 ISBN 0-304-34324-2
A well produced and very readable book.

[206] Larkcom J. Oriental Vegetables John Murray 1991 ISBN 0-7195-4781-4
Well written and very informative.

[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

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