Live and learn

I’ve always heard this called sweet pea. For sixty-ump years.

Then, a few minutes ago, I did an online search, and oops. Nope. Sweet pea is botanically Lathyrus odoratus, which is a tip-off that it’s a scented flower. These specimens are not scented. That means they are Lathyrus latifolius, or everlasting pea (and other common names). The two are close cousins looking very, very similar, and I’m sure there are also morphological differences.

I’ll keep calling these flowers sweet peas, because tradition is tradition; however, I’ll try to remember if someone knowledgeable about such things is around that it’s really L. latifolius.

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