[ no8 ]
LATHYRUS latifolius.
Broad-leaved Everlaßing Pea,
DIADELPHIA Decandria.
G en. Char. Style flattened, downy above, broader
upwards. Two upper legments of the calyx
fhorteft.
S pec. Char. Several flowers on a ftalk. Tendrils
bearing a pair of elliptical leaves. Stem winged.
S y n . Lathyrus latifolius. Linn. Sp. P i. 1033. Sm. F I.
B rit, y66. Hudf. 3 1 6 . W ith. 6 3 4 . Hull. 161.
Relh. 280 . Abbot. 1 5 6 . Mart. F l. Ruß. t. 8,
L. major latifolius. Raii Syn. 3 1 9 .
C o m m u n ic a t e d by the Rev. Dr. Abbot from Hawnes
and Bromham, Bedfordthire. It is a rare and, as many perfons
think, a doubtful native, though Ray feems to have had fuf-
ficient authority to believe it indigenous. Poffibly it may
have efcaped from gardens to fome of the woodland fituations
where it now appears naturalized. Few Britifh plants are more
ornamental, either in a funny expofure or fhady fituation, it
being covered with beautiful rofe-coloured flowers throughout
July and Auguft. The deeply branching roots continue for
a great number of years without fpreading from their original
Ration, and throw up numerous annual climbing winged and
branched Herns, like thofe of L . Jylveßris, t. 805. From that
fpecies it differs in being of a more glaucous hue, in having
broad'elliptical leaflets, more branching tendrils, and broader
more ovate ftipulte. The flowers alfo are larger, of a much
more vivid red colour, and have the lower teeth of their calyx
fomewhat more elongated.
The prodigious crop yielded by this plant, and the lafting
nature of its roots even on a barren foil, feem to render it a fit
pbjeA for agricultural experiments.