Winged Pea

Red Birdsfoot Trefoil. Mill. Lotus tetragonolobus.

A hardy, creeping, or climbing, annual plant, fifteen or eighteen inches in height, or length; leaves trifoliate; flowers large, solitary, bright-scarlet; pods three inches and a half long, with four longitudinal, leafy membranes, or wings; seeds globular, slightly compressed, yellowish-white.

Use.—The ripened seeds are sometimes used as a substitute for coffee; and the pods, while young and tender, form an agreeable dish, not unlike string-beans. It is often cultivated as an ornamental plant; and, for this purpose, is generally sown in patches, four or five seeds together on the border, where the plants are intended to remain.

When grown as an esculent, sow in double drills an inch and a half deep, and two feet apart; the single rows being made twelve inches from each other.