Lathyrus sativus L. Family: Fabaceae
Common names: grass pea, blue sweet pea, chickling vetch, Indian pea, Indian vetch, white vetch
Amharic: ጓያ
Arabic: جلبان مزروع turmos
Bengali: খেসারি ডাল
Bangladesh: khesar
Catalan: Guixera
Crotia: jari grah
Ethiopia: guaya
Greece: λαθούρι
Hindi: लतरी
Hungarian: Szegletes lednek
Itali: cicerchia
Portugal: chícharos
Spanish: almorta or alverjón
Sanskrit: thriputa, kalaaya, khandikaa, lanka, sandika
Description: Glabrous to subglabrous, annual, stem winged. Leaf paripinnately compound, leaflets 2, 5-100 mm long, 1.5-11 mm broad, narrowly lanceolate to linear, stipules lanceolate, semisagittate; median and upper leaves with mostly 3-sect tendrils. Peduncle 1-flowered, 3.0-6.0 cm. Calyx 7-10 mm long, teeth subequal, 1 ½-3 times as long as the tube. Corolla red, blue or white, 12-24 mm long. Fruit 2.5-3.3 cm long, 9-12 mm broad, upper suture broadly winged, wings 1-2.5 mm wide; 3-5-seeded.
Used in Ayurveda and Unani. The plant is reported to be poisonous to stock. Seeds cathartic, poisonous. Ingesting the seeds for 3–6 months can cause neurolathyrism, a syndrome characterized by muscular rigidity, weakness, and paralysis of the leg muscles. In severe cases, victims may be reduced to crawling. Young men between 20 and 30 years old are primarily affected. Livestock may also develop paralysis if they ingest grass pea for a long time. BOAA (beta-N-oxalylamino-L-alanine) is generally regarded as the cause of neurolathyrism. [CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants]
Seeds—toxic. Prolonged consumption results in paralysis of legs, both in animals and human beings, known as lathyrism. The toxic substance responsible for lathyrism had been identified as selenium. [Indian Medicinal Plants An Illustrated Dictionary]
96 Published articles of Lathyrus sativus
