16 



THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



and bear there the ovules alternately attached to the 

 two placentas. 



At the tip the pistil is acute and terminates in the 

 Style, which is bent at a right angle, somewhat com- 

 pressed or flattened and recurved toward the tip. 

 Below the yellow stigma, on the inner side, there are 

 a quantity of white hairs forming a brush to collect the 

 pollen. 



If one presses the keel of a pea flower downward 

 the stigma emerges from the keel and with it the pollen 

 is brushed out abundantly. There is, however, some 

 resistance of the keel to overcome and all students agree 

 that pea flowers are very seldom visited by insects and 

 that they are self fertile. The pollen is shed very early 

 in the bud and comes immediately in close contact with 

 the stigma and impregnates it. Nevertheless some rare 

 cases of cross pollination have been observed. 



After pollination the pistil soon begins to grow. 

 The calyx is persistent. 



In ripening the pod becomes papery and dry, and 

 if left alone, it splits along the sutures, twists lengthwise 

 and exposes and disperses the seeds. 



The seeds vary in size, shape, and color according to 

 species and variety, as will be seen in the descriptions 

 of the varieties. 

 Pisam sativum L. Sp. PL 727. 1753. 



Stems rather robust, 0.30-1.00 m and more high; stipules 

 large, semi-cordate, auriculate, more or less dentate on the outer 

 side of the basal lobe; leaves pinnate, with 1-3 pairs of leaflets or 

 rarely more, usually ending in a simple or pinnately branched 

 tendril, pairs of leaflets not always opposite, leaflets entire or den- 

 tate, mucronate: peduncles of various lengths, usually exceeding 

 the stipules, 1-3 or more flowered; flowers 15-30 mm long; standard 

 broad semiorbicular, notched at the top, at the base contracted 

 into a claw, wings obliquely roundish, suddenly contracted into the 

 claw, keel winged; pod 5-10 cm long or more; seeds several, globular 

 or angular, greenish or yellowish or variously colored, with a narrow 

 oval hilum. 



This species is composed of the following subspecies: 

 1. Pisum sativum subsp. abj — Lnicum A. 



Braun i Alef. Landw. FL 43. 1866. — P. abyssinicum 



A. Braun Flora 21:269. 1841. 



Scarcely exceeding 45 cm 1 | feet ; stipules 4-5 cm long, almost 

 as long as the internodes, ovate, obtuse, mucronulate, with semi- 

 cordate, ± acute basal lobes, irregularly dentate almost to the top 

 on the inner and outer margin, but the teeth longer in the lower 

 outer half: petioles a little longer, with 1 pair of leaflets and branched 

 tendrils; leaflets ovate, elliptical, or obovate, obtuse, mucronulate, 

 sharply or incisely dentate except in the somewhat cuneate lower 

 third, 3-4 cm long; peduncles ', -'. as long as the stipules, but in 

 fruit as long or just exceeding the stipules, 1 flowered; flowers small 

 ', of those of subsp. arvense or bortensc . pale: calyx lobes 

 narrow- lanceolate; standard only half open, whitish; wings shorter, 

 bright or pale purple-red; keel shorter than the wings, narrow; 

 pods 4.5-5 cm long; seeds 5 6, small, globular-cubic, brownish red, 

 smooth and shining in Abyssinian specimens, or more grayish brown 

 or grayish green and less shining in cultivated specimens. 



Abyssinia, cultivated on the mountains near 

 Djeladjerranne Wilh. Schimper, No. 1886 FL and 

 Frtg. Oct. 23. 1840.1 Native name: " Ein Ater." 



This seems to represent a rather outstanding sub- 

 species or variety, although it is known only from culti- 



vated specimens. Its most prominent features are the 

 strongly dentate stipules, the leaves composed of only 

 one pair of leaflets, the short peduncles, and the rather 

 small flowers. It seems to stand nearer to P. sativum 

 elatius than to any other. The dried pods on her- 

 barium specimens are of a dull dark purplish color. 



It was first grown in 1840 in the Botanic Garden at 

 Karlsruhe-Baden by A. Braun from seeds sent by Wil- 

 helm Schimper from Abyssinia. 



Seeds of a pea from Palestine, 1 with which Mr. 

 A. W. Sutton experimented, were presented by him to 

 this Station. However, but three of them germinated 

 and only one grew into a weak plantlet, producing one 

 small flower of an indistinct color. According to Mr. 

 Sutton the flowers are " self-colored of a shade much 

 resembling magenta." He further notes that the plants 

 had " no colour whatever in the axils of the leaves or 

 stems of the plants. Another striking character was 

 that the pods of the Palestine pea were lined inside with 

 a white woolly substance similar to that found in the 

 pods of Broad Beans, but never seen, so far as I am 

 aware, in any other variety of Pea." This pea is further 

 described as of slender growth, without colored nodes, 

 with flowers and pods singly or in pairs, with olive-green 

 seeds, mottled with brown and no black hilum. From 

 the dentate stipules ( dentate also along the inner margin ) 

 and from the seeds, it seems as if this plant will prove 

 referable to Pisum sativum abyssinicum, rather than 

 to P. s;iti\imi syriacum P. humile Boiss. & Noe). 



2. Pisum sativum subsp. Jomardi Schrank i 

 Alef., Landw. FL 43. 1866. as to name only. — P. 

 Jomardi Schrank, in Bot. Zeit. Regenst. 4:309. 1805. 



Plant weak and low, reaching scarcely 45 cm, glaucous, stems 

 angular, little branched; stipules dentate at the basal lobe; petioles 

 terete, leaflets in one pair, ovate, emarginate or obtuse, mucronate, 

 the uppermost faintly fimbriate; peduncles 4 angled, 1- rarely 

 3-flowered; flowers white, wings faintly rose-colored. 



Egypt, collected by Mr. Jomard. According to 

 him the native name is " Guilban " or " Djulban." 



We have net seen any specimen of this little pea; 

 it is known only from Schrank's very poor description 

 from which we give a free translation. Pod and seeds 

 were not described by Schrank. 



There occurs in trade a form of the field pea 

 under the name of Pisum Jomardi Hort., which was 

 described by Alefeld {I.e.) as P. sativum .Jomardi. 

 We grew plants from seeds received from Messrs. Haage 

 & Schmidt under this name. They were quite different 

 from Schrank's P. Jomardi. 



In his description of Pisum abyssinicum A. 

 Braun i Flora 21:269. 1841) mentions a P. Jomardi 

 and states the color of the flowers and of the seeds; 

 from these notes it is evident that he had before him 

 Alefeld's plant, a field pea, and not Schrank's type, with 

 white flowers and only 1 pair of leaflets. 



Schrank says that the plant cannot be recommended 

 for cultivation. It seems to come near to Pisum 

 al>\ — inii ii m. 



1 Arthur W. Sutton, Results obtained by crossing a wild pea from Palestine with commercial types. 

 PI 15-17. 1914. 



Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 



