SWEETPEAPLANT

Thesweetpea[Lathyr
usodor
atus]i
saf l
oweri
ngpl
anti
n
thegenusLat
hyrusinthef
amil
yfabaceae[LEGUMES]
.
Itisanannual cl
imbi ngplant,
growi ngtoheightof1-2
met ers, wheresuitablesupporti
sav ai
l
able.Theleaves
ar epi nnatewi t
ht wol eaf
let
sandat erminalt
endril
,
whi cht winesaroundsuppor ti
ngpl antsandstructur
e,
hel pingt hesweetpeat oclimb.Inthewi l
dplantthe
flower sarepurple[ 2-
3.5centimetersbroad]theyare
l
ar gerandv er
yv ari
ableincolori
nmanycul ti
vars.
GregorMendelr ecognizedasthe‘Fat herofModern
Genetics’
forhi swor kwiththecrossbr eedingof
peaplant[Pisum sat i
vum]wi t
hdifferent
character
isti
cs.Thesweetpeai sthusmodel
organism beingusedi nearlyexperiment at
ioni
n
geneti
cs,particularbythepioneergenet ici
st
ReginaldPunnet t.