Botany of Pea 



235 



or the sides inflexed or retiexed, orbicular and emarginate; 

 Avings closely appressed over the upwardly curved keel; sta- 

 mens monadelphous, 9 and 1, the tube inclosing most of the 

 smooth green shining ovary ; style bent upward, not coiled, 

 bearded on the inner face below the stigma : fruit a several- 

 seeded dehiscent pod 2 to 4 in. long, nearly straight on the 

 back and knife-shaped on the front, beaked at the apex, the 

 sides more or less reticulated, the remains of the calyx per- 

 sistent below its base : seeds 2 to 10, mostly whitish or green- 

 ish, even or wrinkled, globular or angled, i/4 to % in. diam., 

 weighing 300 to 400 mg. and more, and retaining vitality 

 3 to 5 years. — Native in Europe and Asia, and cultivated from 

 earliest times. Var. humile, Poir. in Lam. Diet, v, 456. 1804. 

 (P. hum He, Mill. Diet. No. 2. 17CS.) Dwarf pea. Low, a 

 few inches to about 2 ft. tall, the pods small, plant early : 

 the early garden pea. Var. macrocarpon, Ser. in DC. Prodr. 

 ii, 36S. 1825. (Var. saccharatum, Hort., not Ser.) Edible- 

 podded PEA. Pods lacking the stiff lining, soft and edible, not 

 dehiscent, often very large (sometimes 5 to 6 in. long and 1 in. 

 broad), but frequently not larger than in other peas. 



Var. arvense, Poir. in Lam. Diet, v, 456. 1804. (P. arvense, 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 727.) Field pea. Flowers colored, the standard 

 usually pinkish or light violet and the wings purple, keel often 

 greenish : peduncles usually shorter, often little exceeding 

 the stipules : leaves sometimes spotted with gray : pod and 

 seeds mostly small. — Grown for forage, often with oats and 

 other grain. 



BEANS 



Garden heans represent several species, but all the com- 

 mon kinds in North America are very tender to frost 

 and require a warm season and sunny exposure; soil 

 should he open and light, hut fertile; seed is soiun ivhere 

 the plants are to groiu; usually groion in drills, except 

 the tall kinds; the common hush heans are partial-season 

 plants. 



