CLASS XVII. ORDER III. ] LATHYRUS. 1003 
mode of cultivation and economical use of Peas are so well known as 
a garden vegetable, as not to need description; and the grey or field 
peas, the P. arvensis, are commonly grown for feeding pigs and 
pigeons, and for splitting or to be ground into flour, and used as an 
ingredient in soup, &e. According to the investigations of Sir H. 
Davy, 1,000 parts of pea-flour will give 574 parts of soluble or nutri- 
tive matter, showing it to be one of the most nutritious kinds of food, 
especially for pigs or cattle, which are fattening for the market. A 
dry sandy or loamy soil is best suited for the successful cultivation of 
peas, and if the season be a wet one, they require supporting with 
sticks. - : 
GENUS XXIII. LATH'YRUS.—Linn. Vetchling and Everlasting 
Pea 
Nat. Ord. Paprntona'cExR. Linn. 
Gen. Cuan. Calyx campanulate, its mouth oblique, unequally five- 
cleft. Stamens diadelphous. Style linear, flat, dilated upwards, 
and downy in front. Legume of one cell, oblong, many seeded, 
Seeds round, angular.—Name 24vego:, applied to a leguminose 
plant of Theophrastus, and supposed to have been of this genus. 
* Leaves wanting, petioles leaflike, or cirrhiform. 
1. LZ. Apha'ca, Linn. (Fig. 1167.) Yellow Vetchling. Peduncles 
single flowered ; petiole filiform; leaflets forming a tendril; stipules 
large, leafy, ovate, with an angular lobed base. 
English Botany, t. 1167.—English Flora, vol..iii. p. 274.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 269.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 86. 
foot filiform, and fibrous. Stems mostly several, branched at the 
base, slender, thread shaped, procumbent, or climbing, smooth, an- 
gular, from one to two or three feet long. Leaves wanting, and in 
their place are slender thread-shaped tendrils, sometimes, though 
rarely, bearing a pair of small leaves ; by means of the tendrils the 
plant supports itself upon others around it. Stipules very large, leaf- 
like, ovate, acute, arrow-shaped or heart-shaped at the base, with an 
acute lobe on each side, which is entire or toothed. Inflorescence 
long slender erect axillary peduncles, bearing a single pale yellow 
flower. Bracteas small pale scales a little below the flower. Calyx 
with long lanceolate teeth, veiny. Corolla small. Legume about an 
inch long, linear, oblique, smooth, somewhat compressed. Seeds 
globose, from six to eight. 
Habitat.—Borders of fields in a sandy soil; rare. Cambridge- 
shire, Oxfordshire, Norfolk, about London, Nottinghamshire—Dr. 
Howitt. 
Annual; flowering from June to August. 
2. L. Nisso'lia, Linn. (Fig. 1168.) Crimson Vetchling, or Grass 
6P 
