SYSTEMATIC BOTANY OF PEAS, AND THEIR ALLIES 



13 



Mediterranean region of Europe and Africa, from 

 Spain to Turkey, western and central Asia, often culti- 

 vated as a forage plant and sometimes subspontaneous. 

 There are several wild and cultivated varieties. 

 The latter are: 



11 var. coeruleua Asch. & Graebn. Syn. mitteleurop. Fl. 6 2 :1004. 

 1909. — Cicercula sativa COertllea Alef. Bonplandia 9:148. 

 1861. Flower deep blue; seeds densely dark spotted. Culti- 

 vated in Abyssinia i Native name " Sebberi " — A. Braun), 

 and as an ornamental plant in Europe. 



2) var. coloratus Ser. in DC. Prodi. 2:373. 1825.— Cicerula 



sativa colorata Alef. /. c. Flowers whitish, with blue veins; 

 seeds with bright spots. Cultivated as an ornamental, and 

 for food in Abyssinia. 



3) var. albus Asch. & Graebn. Ac— Cicerula sativa alba Alef- 



I.e. Flowers and seeds white. Cultivated in Europe. 



The " ax-vetch " or " chickling vetch " has been in 

 cultivation since very ancient times. Schweinfurth 

 found seeds of it in Egyptian tombs; large quantities 

 have been found in a cave in Hungary, and also in 

 ancient Troy. 



It is now chiefly cultivated for forage. It is said 

 to be superior to the common vetch but less productive. 

 In some parts of Europe, as in France, Silesia, Italy and 

 Spain, and also in Turkey and India, the seeds of the 

 white form are often eaten like green peas or when dry 

 like beans, in soup during the winter. The flour from 

 this vetch makes a pleasant bread, but it is said to be 

 unwholesome unless mixed with 3 parts of wheat or other 

 flour. It is not cultivated in the United States as a food 

 plant. The seeds are inferior to peas in taste, but are 

 rarely infested with insect borers. 



Some other species of Lathyrus are or have been in 

 use as food plants, and the following merit brief notice: 



Lathyrus Aphaca L., " Yellow flowered pea," 

 the young seeds were occasionally eaten in England; 

 the ripe seeds are said to be narcotic and to produce 

 headache; native to southern Europe; L. Cicera L., the 

 "lesser chick pea" or "vetch," a native of the Medi- 

 terranean region, is sometimes grown for its seeds 

 which are, however, said to be of inferior quality and 

 sometimes unwholesome; L. maritimus Bigel., " heath 

 pea," or " seaside pea," the seeds are bitter, but can be 

 eaten and have been used in times of great need in 

 England; L. montanus Bernh., " bitter vetch," 

 " heath pea " or " mountain pea," a native of Europe 

 and eastern Asia; the seeds are sometimes eaten; L. 

 Ochrus DC, native of the Mediterranean region, it 

 has been cultivated for its peas, and some believe that 

 the peas found in Troy by Dr. Schliemann may have 

 been of this species, though the seeds are bitter and diffi- 

 cult to digest. 



5. PISUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PL 727. 1753. 



Stems slender angular, soft and glabrous, green or more or 

 less glaucous; leaves alternate, distichous, with one or several pairs 

 of leaflets, the rachis ending in a simple or branched tendril or with 

 a very short and rudimentary tendril only; leaflets opposite or 



alternate, the lower ones larger; stipules small in the perennial 

 species or larger in the annual species, with the basal part much 

 enlarged, clasping the stem; peduncles axillary, ± erect, 1-2 or 3 

 irarely more) flowered; pedicels erect, patent or nodding, as long 

 as the calyx; calyx obliquely campanulate, with 5 unequal, pointed 

 lobes, the upper ones shorter and broader; standard roundish or 

 broadly obovate, with two gibbous knobs at the base and contracted 

 into a broad claw; wings ± falcately obovate, longer than the 

 curved keel and adhering to it; ovary almost sessile, with several 

 ovules; style curved, rigid, bearded on the inner side; stigma oblique, 

 terminal; fruit a bivalved, linear, obliquely truncate and rostrate 

 pod, with the calyx persistent at the base; valves generally perga- 

 mentaceous when drying, reticulately veined, twisting when open 

 ing; seeds several, =fc roundish or globular, smooth or verruculose, 

 yellow, green or brown, unicolored or spotted. 



There are several species, natives of western Asia, 

 the Mediterranean, southern Europe and northern 

 Africa, some of them largely cultivated almost all over 

 the world. 



The Index Kewensis lists a great many names, but 

 recognizes only 7 species. Recent authors, however, 

 agree that most of them are but subspecies of Pisiim 

 sativum. 



KEY TO THE SUBSPECIES OF PISUM SATIVUM 

 A. Flowers 16-20 mm long. 

 B. Leaves with 1 pair of leaflets only. 

 C. Stipules dentate often up to the top and also along the 

 inner margin; peduncles shorter than the stipules. 



1) Pisiim sativum abyssinicum ip. 16) 

 CC. Stipules dentate only near the base. 



2) Pisiim sativum Jomardi (p. 16) 

 BB. Leaves with 1-3 pairs of leaflets; seeds globular, finely granu- 

 late, brown, marbled with green. 



3) Pisum sativum syriacum (p. 17) 

 AA. Flowers larger. 



B. Flowers colored; seeds ± brown. 

 C. Stems and stipules not spotted with red; flowers large; 

 seeds almost globular, finely granulate, dotted. 



4) Pisum sativum (latins ip. 17) 

 CC. Stems and stipules spotted with a red blotch at the node; 

 seeds ± angular, smooth, often ± spotted. 



5) Pisum sativum arvense (p. 17) 

 BB. Flowers white; seeds yellow, yellowish or greenish, globular, 

 or wrinkled and angular. 



6) Pisum sativum hortense (p. 18) 



Alefeld l and others believe Pisum sativum ela- 

 tius to be the ancestor of P. sativum arvense. and 

 that from the latter P. sativum hortense originated. 

 While this may be quite possible, it would seem that 

 P. sativum arvense must have existed as a distinct 

 entity contemporaneous with P. sativum elatius; and 

 that a similar entity probably existed for P. sativum 

 hortense. These, together with other pea entities 

 must have been derived from a common ancestor, 2 

 which was very likely a perennial species, perhaps not 

 much unlike the perennial pea, P. formosum. 3 Each 

 of these entities in spreading over a large geographical 

 area during the course of ages broke up into a con- 

 siderable number of variously related races. 



These races are generally self-fertile and their 

 offspring remain constant, but, doubtless, occasional 



1 Alefeld Landwirtsch. Fl 31, 45. 1866. 



- R. H. Lock found in Ceylon a wild pea, which he considered to be such an old, if not the, architype of the peas (Proc. Roy. Soc. 

 Lond. B. 79. 28-34. 19071. There is, however, little evidence that Pisum can be a native of Ceylon. It is not known whether it is 

 identical with Pisum sativum zeylanicum Alef. Landwirtsch. Fl. 45. 



Pisum formosum Stev. i Alef. Bonplandia 9:237. 1861. A perennial herb from eastern Asia, not introduced into cultivation. 



