THE VETCHLING 
1 19 
Another species, the yellow vetchling (Lathyrus apha- 
ca), is very similar to the last, but more rare; and if its 
seeds be eaten they produce headache. The seeds of all 
the vetchlings are very abundant in dry seasons ; and 
country children often gather them, calling them mouse- 
peas. 
The chickling vetch of Italv and the south of Europe 
(Lathyrus sativus) is sometimes planted as a garden flower, 
it is cultivated on some parts of the Continent for the 
sake of its seeds, from which a light and palatable bread 
is made. This food has, however, been found to have 
had so bad an effect on the health of those who eat it, 
that the subjects of the Duke of Wirtemburg were, about 
two centuries since, prohibited by law from planting it. 
When the flour procured from the seeds is m.ixed with an 
equal quantity of wheat flour, the bread is not deleterious ; 
but its effect, when eaten alone, of softening the bones, 
and producing rigidity in the muscles of the human frame, 
has made its culture less frequent than it formerly was. 
A well-known species of garden pea, the tuberous-rooted 
kind (Lathyrus tuberosus), forms tubers on its roots, which 
in Holland are sold as an article of food, and are much 
valued for their flavour. 
The pea - flower belongs to the leguminous order of 
plants, which, as it is characterised by marks that are 
obvious to the unscientific observer, may be the subject 
of a more particular description than can be usually given 
in a work intended for general readers. 
The leguminous order (Leguminosse) may be generally 
known by its papilionaceous or butterfly-shaped flowers; 
blossoms of this form being found in no other order of 
plants. In the absence of flowers of this shape, its pin- 
nated leaves and its pods distinguish it. There are a very 
few instances, and these consisting of exotic plants, which 
have not these marks of distinction. The pinnate leaf 
consists of a number of leaflets placed opposite each 
other, on a leaf-stalk, as in the garden acacia. 
Everyone will immediately remember examples of this 
order. The bonnie broom (Genista) which gave its name 
to the family of the Plantagenets, and the bright yellow 
flowers of which perfume the heaths and clothe them with 
lustre. The laburnum (Q/tisus), often called golden bios- 
