22 BREEDING 



on whether the plant is tall or dwarf, that is to say, 

 on whether the internode is long or short. 



If a normal growing stem is examined, from the 

 ground upwards, it will be found that the nodes 

 succeed one another in this regular way, and that 

 the arrangement of the flowers which arise from the 

 nodes is correspondingly regular. 



But if a plant on which the flowers are bunched 

 together at the top is examined from the ground 

 upwards, it will be found that, about three quarters 

 of the way up the plant, there are two nodes where 

 there should be only one ; so that at this point there 

 are two leaves, and sometimes two flower-stalks, 

 where there should be only one of each. Beyond this 

 point, as we proceed upwards, abnormal nodes of 

 this kind follow one another in rapid succession until 

 we reach the top of the plant, from which the flower- 

 stalks arise in such profusion that they form a sort 

 of crown of flowers. The name " fasciated " is given 

 to this kind of stem ; and in the pea, at any rate, 

 the fasciation seems to be due to the loss, by the 

 plant, of something which brings about the production 

 of nodes at regular intervals, as in the normal stem. 



The fasciated pea was known in this country in 

 the sixteenth century, when it was described by 

 Gerarde in his "Herbal," published in 1597.* He 

 calls it " Pisum umhellatum (Tufted or Scottish 

 Pease)," and says that these peas " carry their 



* For directing my attention to this and further references to different 

 kinds of peas I am much indebted to a very interesting paper by Mr. N. N. 

 Sherwood, on " Garden Peas " in the Journal oj the Royal Horticultural 

 Society Vol. XXII., Part 3, 1898. 



