Tuberous Sweetpea "Earthnut Pea" (Lathyrus tuberosus) Seeds – Perennial Vining Legume, Sweet Chestnut-Flavored Edible Tubers, Fragrant Pink Blooms

Minimum: 10+ Seeds

A Sweetpea With a Chestnut Secret

Most sweetpeas are grown for flowers alone, prized for fragrance and cut blooms with nothing edible about them. Earthnut Pea is different. Beneath its fragrant pink flowers and climbing vines, this perennial legume produces small, chestnut-flavored tubers along its roots, an edible harvest foraged and cultivated in parts of Europe for centuries. Above ground, it climbs and blooms like an ornamental sweetpea; below ground, it quietly builds a crop few gardeners realize is there. This plant rewards patience with both flowers and food.

Who Grows Earthnut Pea?
The forager-minded gardener wanting an edible tuber from an ornamental-looking vine.
The perennial vegetable gardener building a food garden around low-effort crops.
The cut-flower gardener wanting fragrant pink blooms with an unusual story.
The heirloom food gardener interested in a historic European foraged tuber.

What This Tuberous Vining Legume Actually Is
Lathyrus tuberosus, called earthnut pea or tuberous sweetpea, is a perennial climbing legume native to Europe and western Asia, historically foraged for its small, starchy, chestnut-flavored tubers forming along its spreading roots. The vine climbs by tendrils, reaching several feet with support, and produces clusters of fragrant, deep pink flowers similar to ornamental sweetpea but smaller. Tubers, harvested in fall or after a season or two, are traditionally boiled or roasted and taste notably like chestnut or sweet potato. As with other Lathyrus species, the seeds are not intended as food and should not be eaten in quantity; tubers, not peas, are the traditional edible part. Hardy as a perennial in zones 4 through 8, spreading slowly by seed and rhizome once established.

In the Garden & Kitchen

• Roasted or boiled tubers: Harvest fall tubers and roast or boil until tender, chestnut-like.
• Historic foraged food: Grow to experience a traditional European foraged tuber, rare today.
• Cut flower use: Cut fragrant blooms for small posies, like ornamental sweetpea.
• Perennial vertical planting: Train the vine on a trellis for a dual-purpose screen.
• Pollinator support: Let plants flower fully through summer to draw bees to a legume nectar source.
• Slow-spreading ground crop: Let an established patch spread by rhizome for an increasing harvest.

Growing Earthnut Pea Seeds

• Start method: Soak seeds 24 hours, then direct sow or start indoors 4-6 weeks before last frost.
• Germination: Sprouts in 14-21 days; scarifying or soaking improves germination.
• Soil temperature: Best 55-65°F.
• Spacing: Space plants 12-18 inches apart, allowing room for spreading roots.
• Sunlight: Full sun to part shade.
• Soil: Well-drained soil of average fertility; tolerates a range of types.
• Support: Provide a trellis, fence, or other climbing structure for the vine.
• Watering: Consistent moisture while establishing; drought-tolerant once mature.
• Growth habit: Slow to establish; tubers take a season or two to reach harvestable size.
• Harvest: Dig tubers in fall after the vine dies back, leaving some in place to expand the patch.
• Hardiness: Reliable to zone 4; a true cold-hardy perennial once established.
• Seed note: Grow primarily for tubers and flowers; do not rely on the seeds as food.

Before You Close This Page
This is a flower with a genuinely edible secret most gardeners never discover. Earthnut Pea climbs and blooms like an ornamental sweetpea, fragrant pink flowers and all, while quietly producing chestnut-flavored tubers underground. It's a true perennial, spreading slowly and increasing its harvest year after year once established. Give it a trellis, patience, and a season to settle in, then dig tubers each fall for a roasted or boiled treat with real historical roots. Grow the sweetpea that's been hiding a crop in plain sight.