There are numerous kinds of Lathyrus, widely distributed and difficult
to distinguish. In technical character and habit they very much
resemble Vetches, but sometimes have no tendrils and the flowers are
larger, the leaflets are broader, and the style is flattened and hairy,
not only at the tip, but also along the upper side. The leaflets are
equal in number, the leaf-stalk usually terminating in a branching
tendril; the flowers are in clusters; the calyx with five teeth, the
upper commonly shorter; the style flattened and usually twisted; the
pod flat or cylindrical, with no partitions between the seeds. Lathyrus
is the old Greek name of the Pea.
[Sidenote: =Narrow-leaved Sweet Pea=
_Láthyrus graminifòlius_
=Pink and violet
Spring
Arizona=]
This has flowers resembling the cultivated Sweet Pea, but the whole
effect is more airy and graceful. It is a loosely-trailing vine, with
slender, angled stems, long, narrow leaflets, eight in number, and
three-cleft tendrils. The flowers are about three-quarters of an inch
long, brightly yet delicately tinted with shaded pink and violet, and
are so lightly poised on the long slender stalks that they look like a
row of butterflies about to take flight. This grows on the plateau in
the Grand Canyon and all through Arizona in the mountains.
[Sidenote: =Utah Sweet Pea=
_Láthyrus Utahénsis_
=Lilac
Spring, summer
Utah, Col.=]
A smooth, trailing perennial, very graceful, with beautifully tinted
flowers and bright green foliage. The stipules are large, broad and
leafy, and the leaflets are usually ten in number, veined and thin in
texture, one or two inches long, with tendrils. The flowers are nearly
an inch long, from four to eight in a cluster, on a long flower-stalk;
the standard pinkish-lilac, delicately veined with purple, the wings
pale lilac and the keel cream-color. The flowers, as they fade,
although keeping their form, gradually change in color to all shades
of blue, turquoise, and sea-green, finally becoming buff, so that
the effect of the whole cluster is iridescent and very lovely. This
grows on mountain slopes, often in oak-thickets, clambering over the
bushes to a height of several feet and clinging to everything with its
tendrils.
[Illustration: Wild Sweet Pea--Lathyrus graminifolius.]
[Illustration: Utah Sweet Pea--Lathyrus Utahensis.]
[Sidenote: =Pride of California=
_Láthyrus spléndens_
=Crimson
Spring
California=]
This has such glorious flowers, so superb in color and form, that it
is by far the handsomest of its kind and not to be mistaken for any
other. The stout, smooth, stems are dark green, the stipules small,
and the leaves are smooth, slightly thickish and stiffish, rather dark
bluish-green, with about ten leaflets. The flowers are over two inches
long, from the tip of the standard to the end of the keel, and form a
massive cluster of eight or ten blossoms, hanging on drooping pedicels
and shading in color from the pale-salmon of the buds to the brilliant
rose, carmine, and wine-color of the open flowers, the older flowers
being very dark and rich. Only a small part of the flower-cluster is
given in the picture. These plants, which are found around San Diego
and farther south, clamber over the neighboring bushes to a height of
several feet and adorn them with wonderful color, giving an effect of
tropical splendor.
There are innumerable kinds of Astragalus; most abundant in Asia,
usually perennial herbs, sometimes woody; leaves usually with numerous
leaflets, flowers narrow, in spikes, with long flower-stalks; calyx
tube-shaped, with nearly equal teeth; petals usually narrow, with
slender claws, standard erect and somewhat oblong, wings oblong, keel
with blunt tip, about the same length as the wings; stamens ten, in two
sets of nine and one; pods numerous, more or less two-celled, often
inflated, so the wind can distribute the small seeds, therefore these
plants are often called Rattleweed. Another name is Milk Vetch and many
kinds are called Loco-weed, from the word "loco," or crazy, because
they are poisonous to horses and cattle. I was told by a cow-boy in
Arizona that "horses eat this because it tastes sweet, but it gives
them water on the brain and they die, unless the skull is split with an
axe and the water is let out!"
[Sidenote: _Astrágalus Menzièsii_
=White
Spring, summer
California=]
A decorative plant, its pale flowers contrasting well with the dark
foliage, with stout, branching stems, from two to three feet tall,
hairy above, and many leaflets, dark-green on the upper side, hairy and
paler on the under. The flowers are half an inch or more long, with
a pale, yellowish-green, downy calyx and cream-white corolla, and form
a fine cluster, from four to ten inches long. The egg-shaped pods are
much inflated and almost papery, an inch or more long. This grows on
sea-cliffs and in sandy soil near the coast.
[Illustration: Pride of California--Lathyrus splendens.]
[Illustration: Astragalus Menziesii.]
[Sidenote: =Pink Lady-fingers, Sheep-pod=
_Astrágalus Utahénsis_
=Pink
Spring, summer, autumn
Utah, Nev.=]
A pretty plant, unusual in coloring, the short stems spreading on
the ground and springing from a short, perennial root; the foliage
all very pale bluish-gray, covered with silvery down, the thickish
leaflets from eleven to seventeen in number, the younger leaves and
flower buds almost white. The flowers are about an inch long, in
loose clusters, with flower-stalks from three to four inches long;
the calyx long, pinkish-gray and downy, the standard pale pink, the
wings deeper purplish-pink, the keel yellowish-pink. The pod is short,
leathery, woolly, and stemless. This grows in dry, gravelly soil
and in favorable situations makes low, circular clumps of foliage,
suggesting the old-fashioned crochet lamp-mats that we used to see in
New England farmhouses, for the pale leaves are symmetrically arranged
in neat clusters and ornamented at intervals with pink flowers. Unlike,
however, the worsted ornament, its coloring is delicately harmonious
and beautiful.
[Sidenote: _Astrágalus nothóxys_
=Purple
Spring
Arizona=]
A very slender plant, with trailing stems, one or two feet long, the
leaflets odd in number and downy on the under side. The flowers are
about half an inch long, with a whitish, downy calyx and a bright
purple corolla, shading to white at the base. This grows in mountain
canyons and looks a good deal like a Vetch, except that it has no
tendrils.
[Sidenote: =Rattle-weed, Loco-weed=
_Astrágalus pomonénsis_
=White
Spring
California=]
This is a straggling plant, a foot and a half tall, smooth all over,
with stout stems and many bluish-green leaflets. The flowers are over
half an inch long, with a very pale calyx and yellowish-white corolla,
forming a rather pretty cluster, about three inches long. The pods are
each over an inch long and much inflated, forming a large bunch, odd
and very conspicuous in appearance.
[Illustration: A. nothoxys.
Pods of Rattle-weed--A. pomonensis.