PAPlLIONACEiE. 



231 



Bussian Asia. In Britain, only around Fyfield in Essex, where it is 

 abundant, and protably an ancient denizen, although first noticed, at 

 least in modern days, by Mr. O. Corder, in 1859. Ft. summer. 



6. Everlasting Pea. Lathyrus sylvestris, Linn. (Fig. 288.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 805.) 



A glabrous perennial, with a creeping 

 rootstock, and straggling or climbing 

 stems, attaining 3 to 5 or even 6 feet, 

 the angles expanded into narrow green 

 wings. Leafstalks also flattened or 

 winged, ending in a branched tendril, 

 and bearing a single pair of long lan- 

 ceolate leaflets. Stipules narrow. Pe- 

 duncles 6 inches long or more, bearing 

 a loose raceme of rather large flowers of 

 a pale reddish-purple ; the standard very 

 broad, with a green spot on the back, 

 and the keel also partially green. Pod 

 2 or 3 inches long or even more. Seeds 

 numerous, slightly flattened. 



In hedges, thickets, and bushy or 

 rocky places, scattered over the greater 

 part of Europe except the extreme north, 

 but chiefly abundant in the south. Occurs in many localities in Eng- 

 land, but probably not indigenous in Scotland, and not recorded from 

 Ireland. FL summer, often lasting late. The everlasting Fea of our 

 gardens is a broad-leaved variety from southern Europe, with larger, 

 more richly coloured flowers, and some slight difference in the seeds. 

 It has been distinguished as a species, under the name of L. latifolius 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1108), and, escaping from cultivation, will often establish 

 itself in the vicinity of gardens. 



Fig. 288. 



7. Marsh Pea. Lathyrus palustris, Linn. (Fig. 289.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 169.) 



A glabrous, somewhat climbing perennial, not half the size of the 

 everlasting P., and the wings of the stem much narrower. Stipules 

 half-sagittate. Leaflets oblong-lanceolate, 2 to 4 pairs to each leaf, 

 the tendrils usually branched. Elowers smaller and not so broad as in 



