Family |
Fabaceae
Lathyrus pratensis
L.
Lathyrus pratensis L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 733 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, pp. 427–428, Pl. CLXXV, 3; 1970)
Description
Life-form & habit: Perennial with a creeping rhizome and angular stems, 30–50 cm tall, erect or sometimes climbing; hairless or covered with appressed bristles.
Leaves: One pair of pointed, lanceolate, three-veined leaflets, about the size of the large stipules. The unwinged leaf stalk ends in a simple tendril.
Inflorescence & flowers: Long stalks carry 4–10 spreading, bright-yellow flowers, 10–15 mm long. The narrow, pointed calyx teeth usually slightly exceed the tube.
Fruit: Black, linear, somewhat flattened pod, hairless or appressed-hairy, with oblique veins and a slightly curved tip. Seeds are smooth and rounded.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Flowering May–August.
Habitat & elevation: Well-watered places in the mountains.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Bane, Dimane, Hasroun, Nebaa el Hadid and Bqaatouta.
Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Altay, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, Central European Russia, China North-Central, China South-Central, Chita, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Føroyar, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Manchuria, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qinghai, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yemen.
Introduced into: Alaska, British Columbia, Connecticut, Greenland, Illinois, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Québec, Sakhalin, Tuva, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Yakutiya.