250 LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY) 
EVERLASTING PEA 
Lédthyrus latifolius, L 
Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: July to August. 
Seed-time: August to September. 
Range: Locally from Ontario to southern New York and Con- 
necticut. 
Habitat: Fields, meadows, and waste places. 
A showy plant, often cultivated in gardens for its beauty and 
becoming wild as an “escape.’”’ Stem often six feet or more long, 
smooth, angled, and broadly winged between the joints; the leaves 
also have winged petioles. Leaflets a single pair, broadly elliptic 
in shape, rather thick, strongly nerved, one to three inches long and 
a half-inch to an inch wide; tendrils short, with angled stalks, 
usually triple-branched ; stipules large, lance-shaped, auricled at 
the base on the outer side. Flowers densely bunched or clustered 
at the end of a stiff, angled peduncle rising from the axils; they are 
about the size of Sweet Peas or even larger, but without fragrance, 
usually rosy pink in color but may be either purple or white. Pods 
one to three inches long, smooth, and many-seeded. These seeds, 
like those of the Meadow Pea, contain an alkaloid which makes 
them most unwholesome food for animals if eaten uncooked, caus- 
ing a disease called Lathyrism, affecting the nervous and muscular 
systems and ending in paralysis. 
Means of control 
Small areas should be grubbed out when first observed. Rankly 
infested ground should be put under cultivation of the most 
thorough kind. Seeding should be prevented by close cutting 
before the first flowers have matured, as the seeds have long vital- 
ity when in the soil. 
TUBEROUS WILD PEA 
Léthyrus tuberdsus, L. 
Other English names: Wild Sweet Pea, Tuberous Sweet Pea. 
Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by tuber-bearing 
rootstocks. 
Time of bloom: June to August. 
