pea (mangetout) 'Delikata'

'Delikata' is a mangetout pea variety, growing to about 1.3m high, with long, stout, crisp, bright green, edible pods, that can be picked over a long season from early summer to autumn; if the pods are left to ripen they can also be shelled for sweet, wrinkled peas. Peas are nitrogen-fixing annuals, climbing by tendrils up to 2m high, with pinnate leaves of up to eight glaucous, rounded elliptic to oblong leaflets, up to 7cm long, and usually white flowers up to 3cm long, in summer, followed by round, green, edible, protein-rich seeds, in long cyclindrical pods from summer until the first frosts; the pods as well as the seeds of sugarsnap varieties are also edible, as are the flattened pods of mangetout varieties; the young shoots and leaves are also edible.