NEW YORK, Thursday 12 August 2010 (AFP) - The diagnosis for Ron Sveden, 75, was devastating. X-rays showed a dark mass in the lung of the emphysema-sufferer and doctors concluded it could be a tumor.

But to the astonishment of the Cape Cod, Massachusetts man, and his doctors, biopsies on the mysterious mass revealed it was in fact a half an inch long pea sprout, the Boston Globe reported.

The germinated pea was removed without event, and Sveden recovered without incident.

"I must have ate something and it went down the wrong way, that's all they could tell," he told the newspaper.

Sveden's doctors said it was not unusual for small particles of food to pass into the lungs, but it was surprising that the pea had been able to sprout in such an environment.