12-50 
Of the Hiftorie of Plants. 
I B.2. 
them. The floures are like thofe of other Pulfes, of colour white : the cods are fome inch and halfe 
long, containing fomehalfe dozen darke yellow or blackifh fmall Peafe : thefecods grow one at 
aioynt, on fhort foot-ftalkes comming forth ofthebofomes of the leaues, and are welted on their 
broader fide, which (lands towards the mainc ftalke. This growes with vs only in gardens. Dodo- 
nnus,Pena, and Label cM it Ochr us fjluefiris, flue Ervilia. 
a The ftalkes of this grow vp fometimes a cubit high, being very (lender, diuided into bran- 
ches, and fetvnorderly with many graffe- like long narrow leaues :on the tops of the ftalkes and 
branches, vpon pretty long foot-ftalkes grow pretty peafe-fafhioned floures of a faireand pleafent 
crimfon colour : which fallen, there follow cods, long, fmall, and round, wherein are nine, ten, or 
more round hard blacke (hining graines : the root is fmall, with diners fibres, but whether it die 
when the feed is perfe£ted,orno,as yet Ihauenotobfirued. This growes wilde in many places 
with vs, as in the pafture and medow grounds about Paccridge Church. Label and lW*».call this 
Erunm [ylueftrc ; and they both partly iudge it to be the firft fatanance of Diofcorides , and by that 
name it isvfually called. It floures in Iuneand Iuly,and the feed is ripe in Atiguft. 
3 This alfo, though it be not frequently found, is no ftranger with vs ; for l haue found it in 
the corne fields about Dartford in Kent and fome other places. It hath long (lender ioyntedxree- 
ping ftalkes, diuided into fundry branches, whereon (land pretty green^three cornered leaues two 
ata ioynt, in fhape and bignefle like thofeof the lefler Binde-weed. Out of the bofomes of thefe 
leaues at each ioynt comes aclafping tendrel, 
t 3 t^iphaca. 
mall yellow Fetch. 
<Xjokou:c 
and commonly together with it a foot-ftalke 
fome inch or more long, bearing a pretty little 
peafe-falhioned yellow floure,vvhich is fuccee- 
ded by a fhort flattifh cod containing fix or fe- 
uen little feeds. This floures in Iuile,Iuly,and 
Auguft,and fo ripens the feed. It is by 'Label 
and others thought to be the Wlpbace of Dio- 
fcorides, Galen , and Pliny .- and the Pitine of rheo- 
phraflus, by tsingutlUra, 
I finde mention in Storves Chronicle,in Anno 
1 5 5 5 , of a certaine Pulfe or Peafe, as they term 
it, wherewith the poore people at that time, 
there being a great dearth, were miraculoufly 
helped : he thus mentions it ; In the moneth of 
Auguft(faith he)in Suffolke,ata place by the 
fea fide all of hard ftone and pibble, called in 
thofe parts a fhelfe, lying betweene the townes 
ofOrford and Aldborough,whereneithergrew 
grade, nor any earth was euer feene ; it chanced 
in this barren place fuddenly to fpringvp with- 
out any tillage or fowing, great aboundance of 
Peafon, whereof the poore gathered (as men 
iudged) aboue an hundred quarters, yet remai- 
ned fome ripe and fome blo(Toming,as many as 
euer there were before : to the which place rode 
the B ifhop of Norwich and the Lord Willough- 
by, with others in great number, who found no- 
thing but hard rockie ftone the fpace of three 
yards vnder the roots of thefe Peafon : which 
roots were great and long, and very fweet. 
Gefner alfofe Aquatiiibusfib. ^,pag.i^6.tnn- 
king mention, out of D'.Cajus his letters, of the 
fpotted Englifh Whale, taken about thaxtime 
r h r ,r ■ , . , , n at Lin in NorfoIke,alfo thus mentions thofe 
a imaa.- peale : ar th he) in (more no fro Bntanmco quod Oriemem tfcclat,certo quodam in loco Suff olein, inter 
0 rfordmm opptda, (axis wfidentu ( mirahile diet it) nuIU terra circumfufa, autumnali tem- 
pore Anno i 5 , fonts natafunt, adeomagna copia,vt fuff cerent vel millibus hominum. Thefe Peafe 
u hich y their great encreafe did fuch good to the poore that yeare, without doubt grew there for 
many yeares before, but were not obferuedtill [A lagifer artisfngcniquc largitor V enter] 
hunger made them take notice ofthem,and quickned their inuention, which commonly in our 
people is very dull, especially in finding out food of this 
nature. 
My 
