252 LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY) 



MEADOW PEA 

 Ldthyrus pratensis, L. 



Other English names: Yellow Vetchling, YeUow Tar-fitch, Craw- 

 Peas, Mouse-Peas. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: June to August. 



Seed-time: July to September. 



Range: New Brunswick, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and 

 Ontario. 



Habitat: Locally in fields and waste places. 



This plant is accounted a worthless and troublesome weed 

 throughout Europe and Russian Asia, and, since the areas where it 

 has established itself in this country are as yet few and small, it 

 would be well to keep it from wider dissemination, or even to stamp 

 it out in as many of these restricted localities as possible. Like 

 other plants of the genus Laihyrus, it is poisonous to grazing animals 

 when eaten in any considerable quantity, especially when seeding; 

 and persons who have eaten the seeds have suffered with violent 

 headache and nausea. 



Stems one to three feet long, weak, slender, angled and branch- 

 ing. The pinnate leaves consist of two bright green, narrowly 

 lance-shaped leaflets, smooth and pointed at both ends, a long, 

 curling tendril extending between them ; stipules large, long- 

 pointed, and leaf-like, auricled at the base on the outer side. 

 Racemes axillary, on peduncles much longer than the leaves, bear- 

 ing four to nine bright yellow blossoms about a half-inch long 

 with broadly obovate standard and wings nearly equaling it in 

 length. Pods a little more than an inch long, slender, thin, and 

 smooth, containing many small, dark, globular seeds. 



Means of control 



Prevent development of seed by cutting repeatedly during the 

 growing season, which will also starve the perennial roots. Small 

 areas should be hand-pulled or grubbed out. Ground too rankly 

 infested to be cleansed by land-labor should be put to some crop 

 requiring very close cultivation. 



