The 
BRITT S:e HERBAL, 
DIVISION IL 
1. The Common Pea. 
Pifum fativum. 
‘The root is compofed of feveral long ftraggling 
fibres. 
The ftalk is weak, flender, branched, and of 
a pale green: it ufually lays hold of fticks, or any 
thing that can fupport it, and will thus grow to 
more than a yard in height: when left unfup- 
ported, it trails upon the ground, and is lower. 
The leaves are regularly pinnated: each is com- 
pofed of two or three pairs of pinnz, which are 
roundifh, approaching to oval, of a tender fub- 
ftance, and of a greyifh green colour. 
The rib on which thefe ftand is terminated by 
atendril, inftead of an odd leaf; and at the bafe, 
where it joins the ftalk, there is a fingle broad 
leaf. ne. 
The flowers ftand on long footftalks, and are 
white, with a fpot of purple in the middle. 
The pods are long and thick, and contain fix, 
eight, or ten peafe. 
This is wild in the corn-fields of Italy, and 
flowersin June. With us itis cultivated. And 
Bauhine and others call it Pifum bortenfe. 
The excellency of the feeds of this plant at our 
tables, have made the gardeners fo induftrious in 
its culture, that we fee innumerable varieties of 
it, which are in their way diftinguifhed by par- 
ticular names, and have been by fome defcribed 
as fo many fpecies. But they are all variations 
made by culture from this fingle fpecies. 
The field-pea, and the garden-pea, are in every 
refpect, but what is owing to culture, the fame 
FOREIGN 
279 
Seba by Omar, 
plant : and in the fame manner the haftive and the 
rouncival, with -all thofe other forts, the names 
of which are fo numerous, and fo continually in- 
creafing, are to be confidered by the botanifts as 
varieties of one and the fame original plant. 
The following fpecies is truly diftiné. 
3. Single-flowered Pea with cornered leaves, 
Pifum uniflorum foliis angulatis. 
The root is divided, fpreading, fibrous, and 
irregular. : 
The ftalks grow to three feet high when fup- 
ported. 
The leaves which ftand on the main ftalks, at 
the infertion of the pinnated ones, are of an ob- 
long figure, and cornered at the bottom, where 
they have ufually alfo two or three indentings. 
The pinnated leaves confift each of two or three 
pairs of fmall oval pinne on a rib, which arifes 
from the bofom of the cornered leaf, and is ter- 
minated by a divided tendril. , 
The flowers ftand fingly on long, flender foot- 
{talks rifing from the bofoms of the leaves ; and 
they are large and white, or fometimes of a pale 
red, with a deep purple or blue fpot in the center. _ 
The pod is large, and the pea very fweet to the 
tafte. p 
It is wild among the corn-fields in the warmer 
parts of Europe, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pifim pulchrum folio augulofo. 
The fruits of thefe feveral kinds are all of the 
fame quality, wholefome as food, but apt to 
breed wind. 
Goa sBiigt.N, | U0. @Ss 
VERE Cots TaleNaGs 
II. 
P ESAGT OAH Go Ro Ua 8. 
"THE flower is of the papilionaceous form, and is compofed of four petals. The vexillum is very 
large: its fides and top turn back, and it is nipped at the extremity in a heart-fafhioned manner, 
The alz are fhort, of the figure of a new moon, and obtufe. The carina is of the length of the 
ala, but broader, and {plits inwards in the middle. The cup is of the bell-thape, and is divided 
into five fegments at the edge: .the two upper of thefe are fhorter, and the fingle lower fegment ig 
longer than the ale. The pod is very long, of a cylindric figure, and compreffed and pointed : the 
feeds are round, but a little angulated. The ftalks are flatted, and edged with membranes; and the 
leaves are compofed only of one pair of pinnae. 
Linneus places this among the diadelphia decandria ; the threads being in two bodies, nine in one, 
and one in another. But he joins with it three other genera, diftinguifhed very evidently by Nature, 
Thefe are the aphaca, niffolia, and clymenum, to be defcribed hereafter: they agree in the minute parts, 
by which this author formed his characters, with the /athyrus, but not in others. 
DeTaV sl SeleOUN oI. BRITISH SPECIES, 
1. Great, broad-leaved Vetchling. 
Lathyrus major latifolius. 
The root is long, flender, and furnifhed with a 
great number of crooked, irregular fibres, pene- 
trating a great way into the earth, and fupport- 
ing itfelf very firmly. * } 
The ftalks are numerous, flender, and weak ; 
and, if they meet with nothing to fupport them, 
trail on the ground; but, when they have bufhes 
for climbing, they grow to four feet high: they 
are flatted, and as it were jointed. : 
The leaves grow two together, and are long; 
broad, and ribbed : there grow two flender mem- 
branes, 
