beach pea


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Related to beach pea: Sea vetchling

beach pea

n.
Any of certain perennial herbs of the genus Lathyrus in the pea family, especially L. japonicus, native to shores of temperate regions in the Northern Hemisphere, having pinnately compound leaves and purplish flowers.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

beach′ pea`


n.
either of two seashore plants of the legume family, Lathyrus japonicus of N temperate regions or L. littoralis of the W coast of North America, both having oblong leaves and clusters of pealike flowers.
[1795–1805, Amer.]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.beach pea - wild pea of seashores of north temperate zone having tough roots and purple flowers and useful as a sand binderbeach pea - wild pea of seashores of north temperate zone having tough roots and purple flowers and useful as a sand binder
genus Lathyrus, Lathyrus - genus of climbing herbs of Old World and temperate North and South America: vetchling; wild pea
wild pea - any of various plants of the family Leguminosae that usually grow like vines
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References in periodicals archive ?
The South Coast Conservation Program lists northern wormwood, red fescue, grey rock-moss, large-headed sedge herbaceous vegetation, dune wildrye and beach pea as a few of the species found in a healthy sand dune ecosystem.
AoBet youAAEd never expect to find edible greens at the beach,Ao Gray said, plucking a purple-flowered beach pea for an appetizer.
Villagers selected three plant species to use in the experiment - American dune grass, beach pea and spike trisetum.