432 BOTANY OF CROP PLANTS 



The plant has a variety of uses: hay, pasturage, cover 

 crop, silage, and green manure. It is usually cut for hay 

 about the time the first pods are full grown. The quality 

 of the hay decreases after this period. 



LATHYRUS (Vetching, WUd Pea) 



This genus resembles Vicla. The leaflets are broader, as 

 a rule, however, the flowers are larger, and the stigma is 

 hairy along the inner side (Fig. 173, B). 



There are over 100 species of Lalhyrus, natives of the 

 Northern Hemisphere and of South America. There are 

 numerous wild sorts in the United States. The two most 

 common species are Lalhyrus odoratus, the common sweet 

 pea, and Lalhyrus lalifolius, the everlasting or perennial pea. 

 Lalhyrus odoralus is an annual, bearing two to four (lowers 

 on a [)eduncle, and pods 4 to 5 inches long. The following 

 [.alhyrus species are of forage value and are now planted to 

 some extent in this country: L. lingilanus (Tangier pea), 

 L. cicera (flat-podded pea) and L. ochrus (ochrus). 



TRIFOLIUM (CIov.m) 



Generic Description. — Representatives of this group are 

 annual (crimson clover) or perennial (white clover) herbs 

 with palmately trifoliate (hence the name, Trijolium) leaves 

 (Fig. 183), the stipules of which are adnate to the petiole. 

 The inflorescence is a dense spike or head. The flowers 

 vary in color. The calyx is persistent, its teeth nearly 

 equal, and usually bristle-form. The corolla is also persist- 

 ent, sometimes grown fast to the tube of filaments. The 

 slamens are diadelphous (nijie and one). The ovary is sessile 

 or stipitate, and few-ovuled. The pods arc small, mem- 

 branaceous, mostly one-seeded (rarely more), indehiscent or 

 opening circularly. The seeds are small and kidney-shaped. 



