JUNE. 127 



equals iu fragrance almost any flower in tlie 

 British garden. Its butterfly-like blossoms 

 are streaked with white and red in the kind 

 called painted lady ; but another variety has 

 petals of a dark rich purple. Linnaeus says that 

 the pink and white sweet pea is to be found 

 in Sicily, while the purple kind groAvs wild in 

 the magnificent hedges and woods of Ceylon, 



The everlasting sweet pea {Lathyrus latifo- 

 liiis,) is considered a wild flower of Great 

 Britain, but it is a doubtful native. Its large 

 rich blossoms, grovnng on stems sometimes 

 seven or eight feet high, add much to the 

 beauty of the shrubbery, while the still larger 

 flowers of the perennial pea {Lathyrus grancUflo- 

 riis,) are remarkably showy. Gerarde calls the 

 former kind, pease everlasting, tare everlasting, 

 and chickling. 



A very pretty border annual is the Tangier 

 pea, [Lathyrus Tingitanus,) which is said to be a 

 native of Barbary. It is a tall-gi-owing plant, 

 with small dark purplish brown flowers. The 

 light blue pea, now sometimes seen in gardens, 

 is a perennial plant, remarkable, not only for 

 the colour of its flowers, but also for its beau- 

 tiful foliage. It is to be regretted that it is 

 not more commonly cultivated. 



The odour of the sweet pea, deUcious as it is, 

 is injurious to a close apartment ; and an in- 

 stance occurred in France, in which a person, 

 owing to carrying a small bunch of these 

 flowers in the mouth, on a warm summer's 

 day, was seized with convidsions. 



