Lathyrus vernus (L.) Bernh.

The genus Lathyrus is listed in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as part of the grass pea gene pool.The species is not well conserved ex situ in genebanks. Genesys holds 14 accessions, of which 13 are of wild origin. All of the accessions of wild origin were collected within the native distribution, 10 are backed up at a second genebank, but none are duplicated and conserved in the Svalbard Seed Vault (Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources 2017). According to Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI 2017), this species has living collections in 97 botanic gardens worldwide, as well as 57 for various varieties. All varieties are considered synonyms in this assessment, so in total the species has 154 living collections in botanic gardens worldwide, although the origin and locality of the collections are not detailed in this resource (garden locations are undisclosed to protect rare and valuable plant species). The species is likely to be passively conserved in situ in many existing protected areas throughout its range but as the sub-populations in these sites are not actively monitored they may be affected over time from factors such as climate change.The species has been previously assessed globally and regionally. A 2010 global assessment found the species was not threatened (ILDIS 2010). In Switzerland, L. vernus was classified as Least Concern (Moser et al. 2002, OFEV 2016). However, the sub-species L. vernus subsp. gracilis (which is considered to be a synonym in this assessment) was Near Threatened (Moser et al. 2002), but more recently was assessed as Least Concern (OFEV 2016). Another subspecies, L. vernus subsp. vernus was also assessed as Least Concern in Switzerland (OFEV 2016).