124 THE PEAFLOWER TRIBE. [Lathyrus. 



XVII. LATHYRUS. PEA. 



Herbs, with weak stems, sometimes climbing, and half- sagittate, or 

 sagittate stipules ; the leaves usually pinnate, with few leaflets, larger 

 than in Vicia, the common leafstalk ending in a simple or branched 

 tendril or in a small point, the leaflets sometimes wanting. Flowers 

 solitary or in racemes, on axillary peduncles, purple, red, white, or 

 bright yellow. Petals usually broad, especially the standard. Upper 

 stamen free, or more frequently connected with the others, at least 

 in the middle. Style flattened below the stigma, quite glabrous on the 

 outer side, but more or less downy on the inner face for some way 

 below the stigma. Pod cylindrical or flattened. Seeds several, 

 usually globular or angular. 



A considerable genus, with the wide geographical range of Vicia, 

 differing from them chiefly by the style, and in most cases by the 

 fewer and larger leaflets and broader petals. The calyx is usually 

 more oblique, the upper teeth shorter than the lower ones. Several 

 species are very apt to dry black, which is seldom the case in Vicia. 



Leafstalks without real leaflets. 

 Stipules large and leaf-like. Leafstalk a mere tendril. 



Mowers yellow 2. L. Aphaca. 



Stipules none. Leafstalk flattened, resembling a grass-leaf. 



Flowers pale red 1. L. Nissolia. 



Leaves with one pair of leaflets. 

 Annual, with small red flowers. Pods hairy . . . . 3. L. hirsutus. 

 Perennial, with large red or purplish flowers. Pods glabrous. 

 Hootstock tuberous. Stems not winged . . . . 5. L. tuber osus. 

 Hootstock without tubers. Stems winged . . . . 6, L. sylvestris. 

 Perennial, with yellow flowers. Pods glabrous . . , 4. L. pratensis. 

 Leaves with two or more pairs of leaflets. 



Stipules deeply divided Vicia bithynica. 



Stipules entire. 

 Leafstalk ending in a simple or branched tendril. 

 Leaflets lanceolate. Stipules narrow, half -sagittate . 7. L. palustris. 

 Leaflets ovate or elliptical. Stipules large, broadly ovate, 



sagittate 8. L. maritimus. 



Leaflets ending in a short fine point. 

 Leaflets 2 or 3 pairs, rarely 4 pairs, lanceolate or linear . 9. L. macrorrhizus. 

 Leaflets 5 or 6 pairs, rarely 4 pairs, ovate . . . . 10. L. 



The Sicilian sweet Pea, the Tangiers Pea, the South American Anson s 

 Pea, and some other exotic species of Lathyrus, are cultivated in our 

 flower-gardens. The Pea of our kitchen -gardens and fields is usually 

 distinguished as a genus, under the name of Pisum, but upon char- 

 acters which are hardly sufficient for the separation of a solitary 

 species. 



1. L. Nissolia, Linn. (fig. 288). Grass Vetchling.— An erect, gla- 

 brous annual, branching from the base, about a foot high. Leaves all 

 reduced to a long, linear, grass-like, flattened leafstalk, ending in a 

 fine point, without leaflets or stipules. Peduncles long, bearing imme- 



•diately below their summit 1 or rarely 2 small pale red flowers. Pod 

 long, narrow, and straight. 



In bushy places, grassy borders of fields, and stony pastures in central 

 and southern Europe to the Caucasus, but not extending into northern 

 Germany. In Britain, spread over central and southern England, but 

 rare and not known in Ireland or Scotland. Ft. early summer. 



2. L. Aphaca, Linn. (fig. 289). Yellow Vetchling. — A weak, branch- 

 ing, glabrous annual, about a foot long, without real leaflets, but the 



