230 



THE PEAFLOWER TRIBE. 



4. Meadow Pea. Lathyrus pratensis, Linn. (Fig. 286.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 670.) 



A weak, much branched, glabrous per- 

 ennial, straggling or half climbing to 

 the length of 1 to 2 feet or rather more. 

 Stipules large, broadly lanceolate, and 

 sagittate. Tendrils branched, with one 

 pair of narrow-lanceolate or linear leaf- 

 lets. Peduncles elongated, with a short 

 raceme of 6 to 10 or rarely more yellow 

 flowers. Pod glabrous. 



In moist meadows and pastures, 

 throughout Europe and Russian Asia, 

 from the Mediterranean to the Arctic 

 Circle. Abundant in Britain. Ft. all 



Fig. 286. 



5. Earthnut Pea. Lathyrus tuberosus, Linn. (Fig. 287.) 



Fig. 287. 



Hoot stalk perennial, slender, forming 

 small tubers ; the annual stems weak, 

 branching, ascending to the height of 

 the corn in which it grows, glabrous, the 

 angles not winged. Leafstalks ending 

 in a branched tendril, and bearing a 

 single pair of obovate, oblong or broadly 

 lanceolate leaflets. Stipules lanceolate, 

 half-sagittate. Peduncles 3 to 6 inches 

 long, bearing a loose raceme of red 

 flowers, very handsome although not 

 usually so numerous as in the everlasting 

 P., and rather smaller. Pod glabrous, 

 rather more than an inch long. 



In grassy wastes and hedge-banks, but 

 more especially in cornfields, frequent 

 in many parts of central Europe and 



