Fabaceae family(Pisum sativum)
Fabaceae family
Garden peas were the subject of Austrian monk Gregor Mendel's now-famous experiments elucidating the basic laws of heredity. Peas were thought to have been domesticated first around 7000 B.C. in the Near East. They reached China shortly after the time of Christ. Peas are important both as a garden vegetable as well as a field legume. They are important in dryland grain rotations in southern Idaho, where they fix atmospheric nitrogen through the action of symbiotic Bradyrhizobium bacteria for grain crops following them in the rotation. Snow peas (left, top) are an important item in Chinese cuisine. Recently, edible-pod snap peas (right, top) have become extremely popular with home gardeners, since both the sugary pod and the large, sweet, succulent peas within can be eaten. As with beans, bush-type peas are determinate and vining peas are indeterminate. Sweet pea, an ornamental, belongs to a different but closely-related genus (Lathyrus).