PAPILIONACE^. 181 



wider the name of Pisum, but upon characters which are hardly sufficient 

 for the separation of a solitary species. 



1. Grass Pea. Iiathyrus Nissolia, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 112. Vetchling. Grass Vetch.) 



An erect, glabrous annual, brandling from the base, about a foot high. 

 Leaves all reduced to a long, linear, grass-like, flattened leafstalk, ending in 

 a fine point, without leaflets or stipules. Peduncles long, bearing immedi- 

 ately below their summit 1 or rarely 2 small pale red flowers. Pod long, 

 narrow, and straight. 



In bushy places, grassy borders of fields, and stony pastures, in central 

 and southern Europe to the Caucasus, but not extending into northern 

 Germany. In Britain, spread over central and southern England, but rare, 

 and not known in Ireland or Scotland. Fl. early summer. 



2. Yellow Pea. Xjatbyrus Aphaca, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1167. YeUow Vetchling.) 

 A weak, branching, glabrous annual, about a foot long, without real leaf- 

 lets, but the two large, broadly heart-shaped, or sagittate stipules, assume 

 the appearance of simple opposite leaves, with a slender brandling tendril 

 between them. Peduncles long and slender, with 1 or rarely 2 smaU yellow 

 flowers. Pod rather more than an inch long, flattened, glabrous, containing 

 4 to 8 seeds. 



In waste and cultivated places, in central and southern Europe and cen- 

 tral Asia, spreading northwards as a cornfield weed, and, as such, appearing 

 occasionally in the southern counties of England. Fl. early summer. 



3. Rough Pea. Lathyrus hirsutus, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1255.) 



A weak annual, much branclied at the base, a foot long or more, with the 

 young shoots shghtly hairy. Stipules naiTOW. Tendrils branched, with a 

 single pair of linear-lanceolate leaflets. Peduncles long, with 1 or 2 rather 

 smaU flowers. The standard bright red, the keel and wings paler. Pod 

 hairy. 



In cultivated and waste places, in southern Europe to the Caucasus, 

 spreading northwards as a cornfield weed, and as such has been found in 

 Essex and in Somersetshire. Fl. early summer. 



4. Meadow Pea. Lathyrus pratensis, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 670.) 

 A weak, much branched, glabrous perennial, straggling or half climbing 

 to the length of 1 to 2 feet or rather more. Stipules large, broadly lanceo- 

 late, and sagittate. Tendrils branched, with one pair of narrow-lanceolate 

 or linear leaflets. Peduncles elongated, with a short raceme of 6 to 10 or 

 rarely more yellow flowers. Pod glabrous. 



" In moist meadows and pastures, throughout Em-ope and Russian Asia, 

 from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle. Abundant in Britain. Fl. 

 all summer. 



5. Everlasting Pea. Iiathyrus sylvestris, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 805.) 

 A glabrous perennial, with a creeping rootstock, and straggling or climb-. 



