152 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Sea beaches and sandy fields near the coast, New Jersey to Arctic 

 America, also Oneida lake, Great Lakes, Pacific coast and in northern 

 Europe and Asia. Flowering from May to August. 



Myrtle-leaved Marsh Pea 



Lathyrus myrtifolius Muhlenberg 



Plate 116 



Stems very slender, smooth, angled but not winged, weak, i to 3 feet 

 long with obliquely ovate or half-sagittate stipules, one-half to i inch 

 long, one-third to one-half of an inch wide and toothed; leaflets usually 

 six, varying from four to eight, oval or ovate, pointed and mucronate at 

 the apex, narrowed at the base, three-fourths to 2 inches long, one-fourth 

 to two-thirds of an inch wide, the rachis terminating in a forked tendril. 

 Flowering peduncles as long as the leaves or shorter, with three to nine 

 flowers, yellowish in bud but turning purple as the flower opens; each 

 flower about one-half of an inch long. Fruit a narrow, smooth pod without 

 visible stalk, i to 2 inches long and somewhat less than one-fourth of an 

 inch wide. 



In moist thickets, wet ground, swamps and shores, New Brunswick 

 to Manitoba, south to North Carolina and Tennessee. Flowering from 

 late in May until June or July. 



The members of the genus Lathyrus are often called Vetchlings, because 

 of their close relationship to the true Vetches (genus Vicia), most of which 

 are cultivated or naturalized species in our State. Another native Vetch- 

 ling is the Marsh Vetchling (Lathyrus palustris Linnaeus), a 

 boreal species found in the northern part of the State. It has linear leaflets 

 and the stems are usually winged. The flowers are purple. The Cream- 

 colored Vetchling (Lathyrus ochroleucus Hooker) with rather 

 large cream-colored flowers, and broadly oval, acute leaflets, occurs 

 throughout the western part of the State. 



