View source for Pigeon pea

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Pigeon pea
| image = Guandu.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Fabales]]
| familia = [[Fabaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Cajanus]]''
| species = '''''C. cajan'''''
| binomial = ''Cajanus cajan''
| binomial_authority = ([[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]) Millsp.
}}

The '''pigeon pea''' (''Cajanus cajan'', syn. ''Cajanus indicus'') is a member of the [[family (biology)|family]] [[Fabaceae]]. Other common names are '''arhar, red gram, toovar/toor'''([[Hindi]]/[[Marathi]]), '''togari''' ([[Kannada]]), '''Kandi''' ([[Telugu language|Telugu]]), '''gandul, guandul, Congo pea, Gungo pea, Gunga pea,''' and '''no-eye pea.'''

The cultivation of the pigeon pea goes back at least 3000 years. The centre of origin is most likely [[Asia]], from where it travelled to [[East Africa]] and by means of the slave trade to the American continent. Today pigeon peas are widely cultivated in all tropical and semi-tropical regions of both the [[Old World|Old]] and the New World.

[[Image:Cajanus cajan Steve Hurst 1.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Seeds]]
Pigeon pea is an important grain [[legume]] crop of rainfed agriculture in the semi-arid tropics.  The [[Indian subcontinent]], Eastern Africa and [[Central America]], in that order, are the world's three main pigeon pea producing regions. Pigeon pea is cultivated in more than 25 tropical and sub-tropical countries, either as a sole crop or intermixed with such [[cereal]]s as [[sorghum]] (''Sorchum bicolor''), [[pearl millet]] (''Pennisetium glaucum''), or [[maize]] (''Zea mays''), or with legumes, e.g. [[peanut]] (''Arachis hypogaea''). Being a legume, pigeon pea enriches soil through symbiotic [[nitrogen fixation]].