Lathyrus sativus
- noun
- Specialized
- In India, Lathyrus sativus seeds are used to prepare traditional dishes.
Examples
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Farmers often cultivate Lathyrus sativus as a nutritious animal feed source.
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This disorder can be caused by excessive consumption of the drought-resistant pulse grass pea (Lathyrus sativus).
Academic text (2003) -
The drought-resistant Lathyrus sativus is valued for its role in sustainable agriculture.
Synonyms
A small plant grown each year for animal feed and food in dry areas
A yearly plant whose seeds are eaten by people and used as animal feed in India
A small plant grown for food and animal feed in India
Surface Forms
Morphology
Lathyrus + sativus
This is a Latin binomial composed of a genus name (Lathyrus) plus a species epithet (sativus); if a learner knew 'Lathyrus' as a pea-family plant and 'sativus' as meaning 'cultivated', they could infer it denotes a cultivated Lathyrus species. However, botanical Latin is technical and the epithet 'sativus' is specialized vocabulary, and the specific uses (forage/food) are not directly predictable from the parts without domain knowledge, so the compositional clue is partial rather than fully transparent.
Etymology
Lathyrus sativus gets its name from old Greek and Latin words: Lathyrus was the Greek word for a pea-like plant, and sativus means 'planted' or 'grown' in Latin. So the name simply says it is a pea plant people grow for food or animal feed.