230 THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



II. FIELD PEAS 



274. Relationships. The field pea (Pisum sativum, var. 

 arvcnse Poir (P. arvcnse L.), also known as Canada field peas, 

 differs slightly from the garden pea (P. sativum L.). Field 

 peas usually have violet flowers and smaller gray or buff seeds, 

 which are rather angular, but not wrinkled, while garden peas 

 have white flowers, and whiter and more globular seeds, which 

 may be either smooth or wrinkled. Of the two types, field 

 peas are rather the more hardy, and perhaps the more upright 

 in habit. 



275. Description. The field pea has hollow, sparingly 

 branched stems two to six, usually three to five, feet long, with 

 leaves six or more inches long, bearing usually two or three 

 pairs of leaflets one or two inches long, with large leafy stipules 

 at the base, and one or more pairs of tendrils at the upper end, 

 the tip of the midrib terminating in a tendril. The young plants 

 are erect, but as they grow older they become decumbent un- 

 less they are supported. While the plant has a vine-like habit 

 of growth, it is not twining, but climbs by means of leaf ten- 

 drils. Two or more rather large flowers are borne in the axils 

 of the leaves on flower stalks, which are shorter than the leaves. 

 The pistil grows into a rather flat, many-seeded legume two to 

 four inches long. All the vegetative portions of the plant are 

 smooth and glaucous, and the tissues succulent; in the green 

 state these portions are especially well liked by domestic ani- 

 mals. 



At the North Dakota Station it was found that the plants 86 

 days old having vines 5.5 feet long, had roots reaching three 

 feet in depth, though rather sparingly supplied with branches 

 and fibers. Most of the fibrous roots were within eight to ten 

 inches of the surface 1 . The Michigan Station reports that Gol- 



1 North Dakota Sta. Bui. No. 43 (1900), p. 535. 



