PISUM*. Linnean Class and Order. DIADELPHIA†, DECA'NDRIA. Natural Order. LEGUMINO'SE, Juss. Gen. Pl. P. 345.-Sm. Gram. of Bot. P. 174.-Lindl. Syn. p. 75.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 87.-Rich. by Macgilliv. p. 532.-Sm. Engl. Fl. v. iii. p. 259.-Loud. Hort. Brit. p. 509.-Don's Gen. Syst. of Gard. and Bot. v. ii. p. 91.-LEGUMINA CEE, Loud. Arb. Brit. p. 561.PAPILIONA CEE‡, Linn.-ROSALES; sect. CICERINE; subsect. LOTIANE; type, LATHYRACEÆ; subtype, VICIDE; Burn. Outl. of Bot. pp. 614, 638, 642, 659, & 661. GEN. CHAR. Calyx (fig. 1.) inferior, cup-shaped, permanent; the margin in 5 pointed segments, the 2 superior ones the shortest. Corolla (fig. 2.) butterfly-shaped, of 5 petals; standard (fig. 3.) broadest, inversely heart-shaped, reflexed, notched, with a pair of protuberances at the inner side near the bottom, its claw vaulted; wings (figs. 4 & 5, a, a. and fig. 6.) inversely egg-shaped, converg→ ing above, shorter than the standard, with wavy, strap-shaped claws; keel (figs. 4 & 5, b) half-moon-shaped, compressed, of 2 oblong, cohering, folded petals, smaller than the wings, and with narrower straight claws. Filaments (figs. 7 & 8.) 10, nine united, (fig. 8, a.) for more than half their length, into one compressed keeled tube, open along its upper edge, which is closed by the tenth, separate, flattish, awl-shaped filament (see fig. 7. and fig. 8, b). Anthers (fig. 8, a.) small, roundish. Germen (fig. 9.) oblong, compressed. Style (fig. 8, c.) ascending, triangular, membranous at the edges. Stigma longitudinal, downy, united to the acute upper edge of the style. Legume (figs. 10 & 11.) large, oblong, rather compressed, but not winged; of 1 cell and 2 concave valves. Seeds (see f. 11.) globose, numerous, with a roundish hilum. Distinguished from other genera, in the same class and order, by the leafy segments of the calyx; the triangular style; and the downy stigma attached to the prominent upper edge of the style. SPEC. CHAR. Stem angular. Petioles flattish on the upper side. Stipulas broad, half-arrow-shaped. Peduncles many-flowered, the length of the leaves. Engl. Bot. t. 1046.-Hook. Fl. Lond. t. 5.-Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 1027.-Willd. Sp. Pl. v. iii. pt. 11. p. 1071.-Huds. Fl. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 313.-Ait. Hort. Kew. 1st ed. v. iii. p. 37.; 2nd ed. v. iv. p. 302.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. ii. p. 760. Eng. Fl. v. iii. p. 270.-With. (7th ed.) v. iii. p. 835.-Gray's Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 612.Lindl. Syn. p. 84.-Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 324.-Rev. G. E. Smith's Pl. of S. Kent, p. 39.-Don's Gen. Syst. of Gard. and Bot. v. ii. p. 331.-Mack. Catal. of Pl. Fig. 1. Calyx.-Fig. 2. Corolla.--Fig. 3. The Standard.-Figs. 4 & 5, the Wings and Keel; a, a. the wings; b. the keel.-Fig. 6. One of the Wings.Fig. 7. Calyx and Stamens.-Fig. 8. Stamens, Germen, Style, and Stigma; a, 9 of the Stamens, with their filaments united; b, the upper, single Stamen.Fig. 9. Germen, Style, and Stigma.-Fig. 10. A Legume.-Fig. 11. The same opened to show the seeds. * Pis in Celtic means a pea; hence pisum in Latin. Dox. + See Spartium scopdrium, f. 77. n. t. See Ldthyrus latifólius, f. 117. n. . of Irel. p. 66.; Fl. Hibern. pt. 1. p. 82.-Pisum marinum, Ray's Syn. p. 319.Johnson's Gerarde, p. 1250. LOCALITIES. On the stony sea shore.-Cornwall; Peach near Penzance: HEATH.-Dorsetshire; On the sand and naked pebbles of Chesil Bank, running from Portland to Abbotsbury; on the North shore, and eastward of it at Poole, and elsewhere: Dr. PULTENEY.-Hampshire; Sandown Beach; Isle of Wight: Dr. PULTENEY. Near Cowes, Isle of Wight: Mr. MAHRYAT, Ch. Ch. -Kent; On the West side of Dungeness, near Lydd: RAY. Abundant on the beach near Walmer Castle: L. W. DILLWYN, Esq.-Lincolnshire; At Ingolm Mills: PARKINSON.-Suffolk; On a stony beach between Aldborough and Orford: RAY.-Sussex; At Rye and Pevensey: CAMDEN. At Guildford, opposite the Comber: PARKINSON. By William the Conqueror's Table near Hastings: Mr. J. WooDs, jun.-IRELAND. Sand Hill, Bay of Castle-main, County of Kerry: Mr. MACKAY. Perennial.-Flowers in July and August. Root creeping, much branched, running very deep among the loose stones. Stems about nine inches or a foot long, procumbent, simple, quadrangular, a little compressed, smooth, zigzag, leafy, many-flowered, glaucous, often reddish. Leaves numerous, alternate, abruptly pinnate, common stalk flattish, ending in a branched tendril; leaflets oval, alternate, sessile, smooth, entire, veiny, of a dark rather glaucous green; on the lower leaves 5 to 7, on the upper 9 to 11, always one more on the outer side of the leafstalk than on the inner, generally cloven, sometimes simple. Stipulas in pairs, equal, triangular, half-arrow-shaped, reflexed, toothed towards the base, rather smaller than the leaflets. Clusters from the axils of the leaves, solitary, stalked, many-flowered; stalks (peduncles) about as long as the leaves. Flowers large, purple, variegated with crimson veins; the prominences in front of the standard white; wings and heel pale blue. Legumes oblong, about half the size of the cultivated Pea, obliquely-reticulated, and tipped with the permanent inflexed style. Seeds 6 or 8, very bitter. Sir W. J. HOOKER remarks, that this plant has more the habit of a Lathyrus than of a Pisum, though the style most resembles the latter. The Sea Pea is a native of the sea shore, among stones or in sand, in other parts of Europe as well as in England; as France, Sweden, Lapland, and Denmark. It is said to be also a native of Canada and Japan. This Pea was taken little notice of before the year 1555; at which time there being nearly a famine, the poor people on the coast of Suffolk about Orford and Aldborough supported themselves with it for some time. It was supposed to spring up opportunely in that year of dearth, from a shipwrecked vessel loaded with Peas; but this species differs from all the varieties of the garden or field Pea, in the length and continuance of its roots, the smallness and bitterness of its seed, and in the whole habit and appearance of the plant. It had probably grown a long time on Orford beach unobserved, till extreme want called it into public notice. The legend of the miraculous arrival of these Peas in a time of extreme scarcity, is still believed among the country people. Cattle are very fond of the herb. |