Pea - Description

Description

A pea is a most commonly green, occasionally purple or golden yellow, pod-shaped vegetable, widely grown as a cool season vegetable crop. The seeds may be planted as soon as the soil temperature reaches 10 °C (50 °F), with the plants growing best at temperatures of 13 to 18 °C (55 to 64 °F). They do not thrive in the summer heat of warmer temperate and lowland tropical climates, but do grow well in cooler, high altitude, tropical areas. Many cultivars reach maturity about 60 days after planting.

Raw Green Pea
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 339 kJ (81 kcal)
Carbohydrates 14.5 g
- Sugars 5.7 g
- Dietary fibre 5.1 g
Fat 0.4 g
Protein 5.4 g
Vitamin A equiv. 38 μg (5%)
- beta-carotene 449 μg (4%)
- lutein and zeaxanthin 2593 μg
Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.3 mg (26%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.1 mg (8%)
Niacin (vit. B3) 2.1 mg (14%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.1 mg (2%)
Vitamin B6 0.2 mg (15%)
Folate (vit. B9) 65 μg (16%)
Vitamin C 40.0 mg (48%)
Calcium 25.0 mg (3%)
Iron 1.5 mg (12%)
Magnesium 33.0 mg (9%)
Phosphorus 108 mg (15%)
Potassium 244 mg (5%)
Zinc 1.2 mg (13%)
Percentages are relative to
US recommendations for adults.

Peas have both low-growing and vining cultivars. The vining cultivars grow thin tendrils from leaves that coil around any available support and can climb to be 1–2 m high. A traditional approach to supporting climbing peas is to thrust branches pruned from trees or other woody plants upright into the soil, providing a lattice for the peas to climb. Branches used in this fashion are sometimes called pea brush. Metal fences, twine, or netting supported by a frame are used for the same purpose. In dense plantings, peas give each other some measure of mutual support. Pea plants can self-pollinate.

Read more about this topic:  Pea

Famous quotes containing the word description:

    I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    Whose are the truly labored sentences? From the weak and flimsy periods of the politician and literary man, we are glad to turn even to the description of work, the simple record of the month’s labor in the farmer’s almanac, to restore our tone and spirits.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Once a child has demonstrated his capacity for independent functioning in any area, his lapses into dependent behavior, even though temporary, make the mother feel that she is being taken advantage of....What only yesterday was a description of the child’s stage in life has become an indictment, a judgment.
    Elaine Heffner (20th century)