Birth flower
Sweet pea
Lathyrus odoratus. In the language of flowers, as lists print it today, it stands for blissful pleasure. Kate Greenaway's dictionary of 1884 gives it another: “Delicate pleasures”. It is a custom of sentiment, not a scientific or official designation.
- Latin name
- Lathyrus odoratus
- Month
- April
- Meaning today
- blissful pleasureNot the reading of 1884: Kate Greenaway gives “Delicate pleasures”.
The plant itself
| Family | Fabaceae |
|---|---|
| Native to | southern Italy and Sicily |
| Habit | climber |
| Height | 1.5–2 m |
| Flowers | June to September |
Genetic linkage was discovered in this plant: Bateson and Punnett, crossing sweet peas for flower colour and pollen-grain shape in 1904, found that the two characters did not assort independently and called the effect "partial coupling".
Where the names come from
The English name is recorded from 1732: sweet and pea, because the plant is grown for its showy, sweet-scented flowers. The genus name, Lathyrus, comes through the Latin lathyros from the Greek lathuros. The species name, odoratus, is Latin for fragrant.
Where the meaning is written down
- As the dictionary prints it
- Delicate pleasuresUnder the heading “Sweet Pea” in Kate Greenaway, Language of Flowers, 1884.
- As lists print it today
- Blissful pleasureA different reading from the entry quoted here; the note below says where it differs.
Greenaway prints two entries for this one plant, and they disagree: "Sweet Pea — Delicate pleasures" and, under "Pea, Sweet", "Departure". The everlasting pea, a different species, has its own: "An appointed meeting. Lasting pleasure". The modern "blissful pleasure" is nearer the first, but it is not what she printed.
Is it poisonous?
The RHS states that the pods and seeds are not edible, for people or for pets. The seeds contain beta-aminopropionitrile, which damages bone and blood vessels in experimental animals (osteolathyrism and angiolathyrism) without harming the nervous system — unlike the grass pea, Lathyrus sativus, a species of the same genus, whose seeds cause the paralysing neurolathyrism in people. The ASPCA's entry titled "Sweet Pea" is a different species, the everlasting pea, Lathyrus latifolius, which it lists as toxic to horses and non-toxic to dogs and cats; it has no entry for this one.
Each finding above names who made it: the ASPCA's poisonous plant database, the Royal Horticultural Society's harm ratings, or a published report. This is general information and not veterinary advice — if an animal or a person has eaten part of a plant, ring a vet or a poison line rather than reading a website.