252 LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY) 
MEADOW PEA 
Léthyrus praténsis, L. 
Other English names: Yellow Vetchling, Yellow 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 Lathyrus, 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. 
