124 THE PEAFLOWER TRIBE, [ Vieda. 
spread over the temperate regions of the globe. FU. spring and early 
summer. In the cultivated state the stems are 1 to 2 feet high, the leaflets 
usually broad, and the flowers large ; in the more common wild form, often 
distinguished as a species, under the name of V. angustifolia, Roth, the 
leaflets are narrower, the flowers rather smaller and pod shorter; and the 
low spreading variety, published as V. Bobartii, Forst., is only to be distin- 
guished from /. lates by the smooth seeds, and somewhat larger 
flowers and pods. 
9, V. lathyroides, Linn. (fig. 285). Spring Vetch.—A low spreading 
annual or biennial, glabrous or nearly so; the stems branching at the base, 
seldom 6 inches long; the foliage, solitary flower, and general appearance 
those of the smaller specimens of V. satzva, the flowers are however smaller, 
usually of a richer purple, the calyx less decidedly oblique at the base, and 
the pods seldom an inch long. The seeds are also rough with raised dots, a 
distinction believed to be constant. 
In dry pastures, open woods, banks, etc., over the whole of Europe, 
except the extreme north, extending eastward to the Caucasus. Not un- 
common in England, and the greater part of Scotland, very rare in Ireland. 
Fl. spring. 
10, V. bithynica, Linn. (fig. 286). Bithynian Vetch.—A glabrous or 
slightly downy annual, with weak angular stems, 1 to 2 feet long. Leaves 
more like those of a Lathyrus than of a Vicia, having usually only two pair 
of leaflets, obovate in the lowest leaves, oblong or lanceolate, and above an 
inch long in the others, the tendrils branched. Stipules rather broad and 
toothed. Flowers solitary or two together, on peduncles sometimes very 
short, sometimes half as long as the leaves, rather large, of a bluish-purple 
with very pale wings, and shaped like those of V. sativa. Style with a tuft 
of hairs under the stigma on the outer side. Pod 1 to 13 inches long, about 
4 lines broad, usually more or less hairy. Seeds 4 to 6. 
In bushy or stony waste places, chiefly near the sea, but spreading inland 
as a cornfield weed, in southern Europe to the Caucasus, extending up 
western France to Bordeaux, and reappearing in various counties of England, 
but not in Scotland or Ireland. El, summer. 
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 fre- 
quently 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 fiat- 
tened. Seeds several, usually globular or angular. 
A considerable genus, with the wide geographical range of Vicza, differ- 
ng 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. 
