Grass Pea: Grass Pea
(Lathyrus sativus)

Grass pea is an annual, vining or climbing, drought-tolerant nitrogen-fixing plant up to 1 m in height. It is adapted to cooler temperatures and higher altitudes in the tropics. Grass peas are an excellent leguminous crop for dry and poor soils. They are very drought tolerant, growing when other forage crops will not. It has had some success as a relay crop with rice. 100 days.

It is a multipurpose legume with the plant being used for forage, green manure, or cover crop, and the seeds of non-toxic forms used for human consumption (roasted and eaten in porridge or bread). Caution: if eaten in large quantities, grasspea may cause a type of paralysis known as athyrism.

This accession is a mix of low toxin selections from ICARDA.