[4][5] Edible species of pea were first cultivated in the Fertile Crescent, while weeds such as L. aphaca are believed to have adapted naturally to an arable or similar human-disturbed habitat between about 23,000 and 11,000 years ago.

[6] Lathyrus aphaca itself has some advantages as a farmland weed, being able to fix nitrogen and thus help to fertilise the soil, as well as being edible in small quantities if present in the grain harvest,[7] although it is narcotic when consumed in larger amounts.

[11] In these regions it is often considered native, but it is more likely that it is an ancient introduction, or archaeophyte, which has found a natural or semi-natural analogue of its phrygana habitat, where it can persist in the wild.

'[13] Since the early 20th century, it has gone into decline throughout Europe due to improved seed cleaning techniques, and it has largely been eradicated from cereal crops.

[15] In Britain, L. aphaca has been recorded since 1632,[16] when it was found by Thomas Johnson ‘near Gravesend.’ This is sufficiently early to earn it a place as either a native or a long-naturalised arable weed (archaeophyte), as opposed to a recent introduction neophyte.

[18] In 2021 Natural England designated Swanscombe Peninsula in Kent a Site of Special Scientific Interest, partly for its population of yellow vetchling.