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2. LATHYRUS SATIVUS, 



BLUE-FLOWERED LATHYRUS. 



THIS genus contains plants of the herbaceous climbing flowery 

 kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Diadelphia Decandria, and ranks 

 in the natural order of Papilio?iace<z or Leguminosce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a one-leafed perianthium, 

 half five-cleft) bell-shaped : divisions lanceolate, sharp : the two 

 upper ones shorter; the lowest longer : the corolla papilionaceous: 

 standard obcordate, very large, reflex on the sides and tip: wings 

 oblong, lunulate, short, obtuse : keel half-orbiculate, size of the 

 wings, and wider than the wings, gaping inwards in the middle : the 

 stamina have diadelphous filaments, (single and nine-cleft) rising 

 upwards: anthers, roundish: the pistillum is a compressed germ, 

 oblong, linear : style erected upwards, flat, wider above, with sharp 

 tip: stigma, from the middle of the style to the tip villose in front: 

 the pericarpium is a legume, very long, cylindric or compressed, 

 acuminate, one-celled, bivalve: the seeds several, cylindric, globose, 

 or but little cornered. 



The species cultivated are: 1. L. odoratus, Sweet Lathyrus, or 

 Pea; 2. L. Tingitanus, Tangier Lathyrus, or Pea; 3. L. latifolius, 

 Broad-leaved Lathyrus, or Everlasting Pea. 



Several other species may be cultivated where variety is wanted. 



The first is an annual plant, which rises from three to four feet 

 high by means of its long claspers or tendrils: the flower-stalks come 

 out at the joints, are about six inches long, and sustain two large 

 flowers, which have a strong odour, and are succeeded by oblong 

 hairy pods, having four five or roundish seeds in each. It is a native 

 of Sicily. 



