10 



tooth-pea,* Dent-de-brebist or Sheep-tooth, .Riga Pea,+ Black 

 Sea Pulse, Lakh, Lakhori. 



Annual, 2 to 3 ft. high. No returns of imports into this 

 country appear to be available; our principal source of supply is 

 British India, and the figures are probably involved with those ox 

 Peas (see under Pisum sativum) from that country. The plant is 

 cultivated in many tropical and sub-tropical countries, the seeds 

 being used as food for both men and animals. The pods are 

 sometimes eaten when green and the plant used as fodder. 

 There is some danger in the use of this pulse for food ; cases 

 of poisoning are not uncommon and a disease known as 

 "Lathyrism " is frequently produced — so far imperfectly under- 

 stood; several hypotheses have been put forward as to the cause, 

 and perhaps the simplest and most likely is that advanced by 

 Major Buchanan after a special study of the causes. It is to 

 the effect that the natives of India suffer more from this disease 

 when compelled to live almost entirely on the pulse — an 

 explanation that would fit many more so-called poisonous plants 

 — and that paralysis is likely to occur when the proportion of 

 Lathyrus reaches or exceeds half of the whole rntion. The 

 subject is too wide to enter upon here; it is fully discussed by 

 Buchanan in " A Report on Lathyrism in the Central Provinces 

 from 1896-1902" (JNagpur, 1904); Watt, Commercial Products 

 of India (1908), "Lathyrism," pp. 705-706; Holmes in 

 Pharmaceutical Journal, xxxvi. 1913, "A Poisonous Horse- 

 Pea," pp. 795-796 and p. 837 ; Year Book of Pharmacy, 1913, jyp. 

 276-278; Lon^ in cc Plants Poisonous to Live Stock" (1917), 

 pp. 27-29. 



<i Tangier-Pea " (Lathyrus tingitanus, Linn.), an annual, 

 native of North Africa, is grown for forage in Algeria. 



1. 1894. '* Lathvrus Fodder (Lathyrus sativus)^ pp. :>49- 



352. 



Pisum arvense, Linn . : Field Pea, Partridge Pea, Dun Pea, 

 Grey Pea, Maple Pea. 



Annual, 3 ft. or thereabouts. Probably native of S. Europe; 

 cultivated under several varieties in most temperate countries 

 (for trade sources see under P. sativum), and more or less 

 throughout the United Kingdom (production in 1913 — 2133104 



centals), where the counties of Essex, Kent, Lincolnshire, and 



a than 10.000 acres. Peas used for feed- 



grow inoi 



ing stock, poultry, game and pigeons, and the haulms as fodder. 

 In Idaho it has been found that "hogging off" — turning pigs 

 on to the field — is a practical and convenient method of 

 harvesting and feeding pigs (Univ. of Idaho, Agric. Bull. No. 



92. 1916, pp. 6-8). 



Pisum sativum, Linn.; Garden Pea, Blue Pea. 



Annual, 2 ft. and upwards; cultivated under numerous 



* A sample said to be known in commerce under this name, imported 

 from Odessa to Hull; identified at Kew as L. sativus. 



t So-called by Vilmorin (PI. Potageres, p. 283), 



X Sample in Museum, Kew, of a large white-seeded form. 



