LATHYRrS. 
211 
in fields below 2000 ft., either alone or amongst corn, Loo fields 
towards the Praia, to the E. of Funchal, &c. Febr.-May. — 
Bushy upright about 1 ft. high, the lower side-branches elon- 
gate straggling or spreading horizontally diffuse ; dull gr. 
slightly glaucous smooth except a few scattered hairs occasion- 
ally on the edges of the stip., &c. Lfts. 1^ in. long, f or ^ in. 
wide, finely acuminate. Stip. large leafy strongly senri-sagit- 
tate with mostly a single intermediate distinct tooth. Ped. an 
inch long, considerably shorter than the 1. with a single terminal 
fl. on a short pedic. jointed to its apex, having 2 very minute 
bractlets at the junction. Pedicel \ in. long. Fl. scentless, 
always in Mad. dull grejdsh-b., about the size of those of Pisum 
sativum L. or Lathy rus odoratus L. (Sweet Pea). Standard broad 
6-9 lines wide, dull greyish-b. paler towards the edges, with 
darker veins and a bright red-purple spot at the base behind, 
hidden by the wings, which close over the keel and are of a 
deep full indigo-b. with a red purple spot at the base of the 
hinder edge of each over against the similar spot on the standard. 
Keel nearly white, distorted, quite concealed by the adpressed 
wings. Pod pale brown or fawn-col. an inch long, | in. (in- 
cluding wings) wide, with both margins curved and 2 distinct 
sharp thin membranous wings on the back, each nearly | in. 
broad, and a deep intermediate channel. Seeds large angular 
compressed pale yellowish or greenish 2-3 lines in diam. quite 
smooth and even ; hilum oblong-oval. 
I have never seen the fl. either in Madeira or in the Canaries 
varying from the above description further than in the greater 
or less extent or intensity of blue in the wings and standard, 
leaving less or more of the edges pale or wdiitish, and in the 
latter case assuming, especially in dried specimens, somewhat of 
the character of a central suffused b. patch or spot. M. Seringe’s 
var. y. coloratus in DC. is therefore scarcely worth distinguish- 
ing. 
Such fatal effects were produced in the latter end of the 17th 
and beginning of the 18th centuries in some parts of Europe by 
the use of the seeds of this ph, that the authorities were obliged 
to interfere and forbid its cultivation. In Martyn’s ed. of Mil- 
ler’s Dictionary, the flour prepared from the seeds is said to 
make a pleasant light bread, which, if half the quantity of 
wheat flour has been mixed with it, is also perfectly harmless : 
but when used unmixed, those who have lived on it for some 
continuance are seized, it is said, with violent spasmodic attacks 
of rigidity of the muscles, followed by the total and incurable 
loss of the use of their limbs ; and it is added that these effects 
