328 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



Switzerland, France, and Italy. Bobbio has a legend 

 (a.d. 930), in which it is said that the Italian peasants 

 caUed a certain seed herhilia, whence it has been sup- 

 posed to be the modern ruhiglia or the Pisum sativum of 

 botanists.^ The species is cultivated in the East, and as 

 far as the north of India.^ It is of recent cultivation in 

 the latter country, for there is no Sanskrit name, and 

 Piddington gives only one name in one of the modern 

 languages. 



Whatever may be the date of the introduction of its 

 culture, the species is undoubtedly wild in Italy, not only 

 in hedges and near cultivated ground, but also in forests 

 and wild mountainous districts.^ I find no positive 

 indication in the floras that it grows in like manner 

 in Spain, Algeria, Greece, and the East. The plant is 

 said to be indigenous in the south of Russia, but some- 

 times its wild character is doubtful, and sometimes the 

 species itself is not certain, from a confusion with Fisum 

 sativum and P. elatius. Of all Anglo-Indian botanists, 

 only Royle admits it to be indigenous in the north of 

 India. 



Garden-Pea — Pisum sativum, Linnseus. 



The pea of our kitchen gardens is more delicate than 

 the field-pea, and sufi'ers from frost and drought. Its 

 natural area, previous to cultivation, was probably more 

 to the south and more restricted. It has not hitherto 

 been found wild, either in Europe or in the west of Asia, 

 whence it is supposed to have come. Bieberstein's indica- 

 tion of the species in the Crimea is not correct, according 

 to Steven, who was a resident in the country.'* Perhaps 

 botanists have overlooked its habitation; perhaps the 

 plant has disappeared from its original dwelling ; perhaps 

 also it is a mere modification, effected by culture, of 

 Pisum, arvense, Alefeld held the latter opinion,^ but he 



* Mnratori, Antich. ItaU, L p. 347; Diss., 24, quoted by Targioni, 

 Cenni Storici, p. 31. 



2 Boissier, Fl. Orient., ii. p. 623 ; Eoyle, El. Himal, p. 200. 



3 Bertoloni, Fl. Ital., vii. p. 419; Caruel, Fl. Tosc, p. 184; Gussone 

 Fl. Sic. Syvopsis, ii. p. 279 ; Moris, Fl. Sardoa, i. p. 577. 



* Steven, Verzeichnias, p. 134. 



» Alefeld, Bot. Zeitung., 1860, p. 204. 



