678 Bulletin 320 



PART II. THE SWEET PEA IN BOTANY AND IN 



HORTICULTURE 



" Here are sweet peas, on tip-toe or aflight, 

 With wings oj gentle flush o'er delicate white. 

 And taper fingers catching at all things, 

 To bind them all about with tiny rings.'' 



Keats. 



HISTORY OF THE SWEET PEA 



Botanical history 



The earliest mention of the sweet pea was made in " Sillabus Plantarum 

 Sicillffi-nuper detectarum a P. F. Franciscus Cupani " (Panormi, 1695). 

 It is a very small work — duodecimo — and among the plants newly dis- 

 covered is the " Lathyrus distoplatyphyllos hirsutis mollis, magno et pera- 

 moeno flore odoro." In 1696 the same writer issued " Hortus Catholicus 

 Neapolitanus " (Neapoli). Father Cupani* exhibited considerable zeal 

 in distributing this Lathyrus and in 1699 sent seed to Dr. Uvedale at 

 Enfield, England, and to Caspar Commelin at Amsterdam, Holland. 



Commelin published an illustration and description of the plant in his 

 " Hort-Medici Amstelodamensis " (1697-1701). In his description he says: 



" I am sowing seeds of this most elegant and very pleasant plant 

 lately received from the Reverendo Patri Francisco Cupani, who was 

 pleased to communicate with me and to send me these from Panormo, 

 together with other somewhat rare seeds, in the beginning of 1699; which 

 being sown, in the same year produced flowers and seeds, of which plant, 

 for the sake of the elegance and pleasantness which it possesses, I have 

 wished to set forth a delineation and description by that name which the 

 Revendus Pater Cupani has proposed for it in the catalogue of the most 

 learned and excellent Catholic Prince. 



" This Lathyrus, an annual, rises to a height of 6 or 7 feet; the root is 

 thin, the stalks compressed, solitary, projecting on both sides on these 

 stand two wide and oblong leaves on a foot stalk, which is compressed, 

 foliated, and raised, which footstalk ends in tendrils. From the wings 

 of the leaves on longer pedicels spring butterfly-like flowers which are 

 large and have a purple standard, the remaining petals are sky-blue. 

 These flowers have a very pleasant smell." 



Commelin adopted Cupani's name for the plant. 



* Father Cupani was a very devout and learned monk and an enthusiastic naturalist. He was born 

 in 1657 and became a monk in 168 1, his order being located in the vicinity of Panormi. In addition to 

 the two purely botanical works mentioned above he prepared an illustrated natural history of plants, 

 fishes, animals, and so on, entitled " Pamphytum Sicylum." This work was published in 1712, following 

 the death of Cupani in 1711. 



