682 Bulletin 320 



to the fact and that the above classification was made to correct this 

 omission. 



Philip Miller, 1752, gives " Lathyrus distoplatyphyllos hirsutis mollis, 

 magno et peramoeno flore odoro, Hort. Cath. Broadleaved, hairy, soft 

 chichling with large and very beautiful, sweet -smelling flower, commonly 

 called sweet-scented peas." 



Linnaeus, 1753, in his great " Systema Plantarum Europae," classifies 

 the sweet pea as follows: 



" Odoratus 11. Lathyrus pedunculis bifloris, cirrhis diphyllis, foliis 

 ovato-oblongis, leguminibus hirsutis. Hort. Cliff. 368,. Hort. Upsal. 

 216, Roy. lugd. 363. 

 " Siculus a. Lathyrus Siculus. Rupp. jen., 210. 



Lathyrus distoplatyphyllos hirsutis mollis, magno et peramoeno 

 flore odoro. Comm. Hort. 2, p. 219, t. 80. 

 " Zeylanicus ^ Lathyrus Zeylanicus. Odorato flore amoene ex albo et 

 rubro vario. Burm. Zeyl., 138. 

 " Habitat: a in SiciUa; /? in Zeylona." 



Here is the first use of the term " Odoratus " as a distinctive name. 



Kniphof, in his " Botanico in Originali " (17 57-1 763), gives colored 

 illustrations of the pressed flowers of Painted Lady sweet pea. In Vol. II 

 the stems bear two flowers, and in Vol. V there is only one flower on a stem. 

 S. B. Dicks, who has written much on the history of the sweet pea, thinks 

 that the first illustration is from a dried specimen, sent from Ceylon. 

 He says: " The colors are those of the Painted Lady as now grown, but 

 the standards are small and of poor substance, the wings being in each 

 case the most prominent parts of the flowers." 



Mr. Dicks, who is an English authority on the history of the sweet pea, 

 says that no mention is made of the sweet pea in Paoli Bocconi's " Icones 

 Plantarum Siciliae " (Oxford, 1674), which he regards as a rather re- 

 markable fact. The writer has had an opportunity to examine this work, 

 among others, and he finds that Bocconi does not mention Lathyrus, 

 Vetch, Orobus, or, in fact, any of the Leguminosae. As proof that the 

 Lathyrus odoratus did not occur in Sicily this work is worthless. However, 

 Mr. Dicks called the attention of G. Sprenger to the facts regarding the 

 origin of the sweet pea, and the latter undertook an investigation. Mr. 

 Sprenger reported to Mr. Dicks as follows:* 



" I retain that the plant is really a native of the two most important 

 ItaUan islands, Sicily and Sardinia. I have just come from Sicily, where 

 I could see the plant in the neighborhood of Corleone, a town lying in 

 the interior on a range of hills, and in several other wild regions round 



• " All about Sweet Peas." p. 21. 



