Yellow Chick-Pea.
This variety has white blossoms and yellow seeds. The plant, in height, foliage, or general habit, differs little from the White or the Red Seeded.
CHICKLING VETCH. Law.
Lentil, of Spain. Cultivated Lathyrus. Lathyrus sativus.
Stem three or four feet high or long, attaching itself to trellises, branches, or whatever may be provided for its support, in the manner of pease; the leaves are small and grass-like; flowers solitary, smaller than those of the Common Pea, and generally bright-blue; the pods are an inch and a half long, three-fourths of an inch broad, flattened, winged along the back, and enclose two compressed but irregularly shaped seeds of a dun or brownish color and pleasant flavor.
Cultivation and Use.—The seeds are sown at the time and in the manner of the taller kinds of garden-pease. The plant is principally cultivated for its seeds, the flour of which is mixed with that of wheat or rye, and made into bread. It is also fed to stock; and, in some localities, the plants are given as green food to horses and cattle.
"In 1671, its cultivation and use were prohibited on account of its supposed pernicious properties; as it was thought to induce rigidity of the limbs, and to otherwise injuriously affect the system."
White-Flowered Chickling Vetch.
A variety with white flowers and seeds. The foliage is also much paler than that of the Common Chickling Vetch.