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Lathyrus libani
Lathyrus libani, the Lebanon vetchling, is a perennial herb in the family Fabaceae (subfamily Faboideae), belonging to the genus Lathyrus L., a large assemblage of climbing and scrambling legumes commonly known as vetchlings and peavines. It was first described by the Austrian botanist Karl Fritsch in 1895, and takes its specific epithet from Lebanon, within whose mountain ranges the species was first documented. The species is native to the mountains of southern Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon, where it inhabits montane woodlands and cedar forests between approximately 1,200 and 1,800 meters above sea level.
Lathyrus libani is native to Lebanon, Syria, and southern Turkey. Within Lebanon, confirmed localities include the environs of Ehden, the forest of Ehden, and the cedar forests of Bcharré. In Syria, the species has been recorded from the coastal mountains including Bois du Bassit and Slenfé, and from cedar forests of 'Aïn Zehalta. The species grows in montane woodlands and cedar forests at elevations of approximately 1,200–1,800 meters. A broader elevation range of 750 metres (2,460 ft) to 1,650 metres (5,410 ft) has been recorded across the species' distribution, encompassing populations in southern Turkey. Lebanon is recognized as a biodiversity meso-hotspot within the Levant, with a vascular plant flora of significant richness relative to its small land area. A 2025 systematic review of the endemic flora identified 169 taxa belonging to 37 families and 99 genera, with Fabaceae constituting 11.2% of the endemic-rich families. The cedar forests and montane woodland habitats of northern Lebanon, within which L.
Lathyrus alpestris · Angled pea · Annual vetchling · Yellow pea · Golden Pea · Belin Sweet Pea · Twoflower pea · Lathyrus lanszwertii var. bijugatus · Red pea · Cicercha purpurina · Dark Blue Vetchling · China Davida
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lathyrus libani by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
