186 LATHYRUs TUBEROsus. [June, 



men of a bluflf, honest Boniface. His accommodation and fare 

 are satisfactory, and his reckonings very reasonable. 



LATHYEUS TUBEKOSUS. 



The following notices of Lathyrus tuberosus are sent by a cor- 

 respondent : — 



There is in Turner's ' Herbal/ 29a, part 1st, original edition, 

 a rather obscure intimation that this species is a native of England. 

 From the account of the plant given by this excellent author, it 

 is probable that he confounded two distinct plants under the 

 name of Astragalus. His notice is as follows : — "Astragalus is 

 named about Colon (Cologne) , Erdekelin ; in Netherlands, Erd- 

 nutt ; in Ouerland, Erdnusse. I have sene it in England, in 

 Come (Comb) Park, and on Rychemunde (Richmond) Heth ; but 

 I never coulde learue the name of it in Euglyshe. I am com- 

 pelled for lacke of another name to call it Peese-earth-nutt : be- 

 cause it hath leues lyke a lytle Peese, or a Ciche, and rootes lyke 

 an Erthnut. Although all the description of Dioscorides besyde 

 dyd agre very well unto this herbe, yet when, as I had found the 

 roote in certine moist places very lytle astringent, I began to 

 dowt, but after that I found that in drye places, and that it had 

 a manyfest astryction, I dowted it no more, but that thys herbe 

 was the ryght Astragalus, although Fuchsius do contend, that 

 thys shoulde be Apios." There is a figure of this plant on the 

 preceding page. It is probable that the plant found in Comb 

 Wood and on Richmond Heath was Lathyrus macrorhizus or 

 Orobus tuberosus, Linn., a plant very common in such places. 



John Parkinson, in his Herbal, published in 1640, appears to 

 have known the true Earthnut, Lathyrus tuberosus ; for his de- 

 scription agrees with this plant, and not with L. macrorhizus. 



" Fig. 4. Lathyrus arvensis, sive ierrm glandes. Pease Earth- 

 nuts. 



" These earthnuts have divers weake and small square stalks 

 running upon the ground, four or five foote long; the leaves are 

 siiiall, usually two s6t together upon a branch, with a clasper at 

 the end of each, taking hold of what standeth next to it. The 

 tiowers come forth from the joynts towards the tops of the stalks 

 upon long foot-stalks, many growing together, being narrow, and 



