Chap. IX. 



PEAS. 327 



differ greatly in height,— namely from between 6 and 12 inches to 8 feet, 81 

 —in manner of growth, and in period of maturity. Some varieties differ 

 in general aspect even while only two or three inches in height. The stems 

 of the Prussian pea are much branched. The tall kinds have larger leaves 

 than the dwarf kinds, but not in strict proportion to their height :— 

 Hairs' Dwarf Monmouth has very large leaves, and the Pois nain hatif, 

 and the moderately tall Blue Prussian, have leaves about two-thirds of 

 the size of the tallest kind. In the Danecroft the leaflets are rather small 

 and a little pointed; in the Queen of Dwarfs rather rounded; and in the 

 Queen of England broad and large. In these three peas the slight dif- 

 ferences in the shape of the leaves are accompanied by slight differences in 

 colour. In the Pois geant sans parchemin, which bears purple flowers, the 

 leaflets in the young plant are edged with red ; and in all the peas with 

 purple flowers the stipules are marked with red. 



In the different varieties, one or two, or several flowers in a small cluster, 

 are borne on the same peduncle; and this is a difference which with some 

 of the Leguminosse is considered of specific value. In all the varieties 

 the flowers closely resemble each other except in colour and size. They 

 are generally white, sometimes purple, but the colour is inconstant even 

 in the same variety. In Warner's Emperor, which is a tall kind, the 

 flowers are nearly double the size of those of the Pois nain hatif, but 

 Hairs' Dwarf Monmouth, which has large leaves, likewise has large flowers. 

 The calyx in the Victoria Marrow is large, and in Bishop's Long Pod the 

 sepals are rather narrow. In no other kind is there any difference in 

 the flower. 



The pods and seeds, which with natural species afford such constant 

 characters, differ greatly in the cultivated varieties of the pea ; and these 

 are the valuable, and consequently the selected parts. Sugar peas, or 

 Pois sans parchemin, are remarkable from their thin pods, winch, whilst 

 young, are cooked and eaten whole ; and in this group, which, according 

 to Mr. Gordon includes eleven sub-varieties, it is the pod which differs 

 most : thus Lewis's Negro-podded pea has a straight, broad, smooth, and 

 dark- purple pod, with the husk not so thin as in the other kinds ; the 

 pod of another variety is extremely bowed ; that of the Pois geant is much 

 pointed at the extremity ; and in the variety " a grands cosses " the peas 

 are seen through the husk in so conspicuous a manner that the pod, 

 especially when dry, can hardly at first be recognised as that of a pea. 



In the ordinary varieties the pods also differ much in size;— in colour, 



that of Woodford's Green Marrow being bright-green when dry, instead of 



pale brown, and that of the purple-podded pea being expressed by its name ; 



QpP —in smoothness, that of Danecroft being remarkably glossy, whereas that of 



the Ne plus ultra is rugged ;— in being either nearly cylindrical, or broad 



<$$ and flat;— in being pointed at the end as in Thurston's Reliance, or much 



- jX iP\ truncated as in the American Dwarf. In the Auvergne pea the whole end of 



81 A variety called the Eouncival series), vol. i., 1835, p. 374, from which 

 attains this height, as is stated by Mr. paper I have taken some facts. 

 Gordon in ' Transact. Hort. Soc.' (2nd 



