Whatever may be the date of the introduction of its culture, the species is undoubtedly wild in Italy, not only in hedges and near cultivated ground, but also in forests and wild mountainous districts.[1648] I find no positive indication in the floras that it grows in like manner in Spain, Algeria, Greece, and the East. The plant is said to be indigenous in the south of Russia, but sometimes its wild character is doubtful, and sometimes the species itself is not certain, from a confusion with _Pisum sativum_ and _P. elatius_. Of all Anglo-Indian botanists, only Royle admits it to be indigenous in the north of India. +Garden-Pea+—_Pisum sativum_, Linnæus. The pea of our kitchen gardens is more delicate than the field-pea, and suffers from frost and drought. Its natural area, previous to cultivation, was probably more to the south and more restricted. It has not hitherto been found wild, either in Europe or in the west of Asia, whence it is supposed to have come. Bieberstein’s indication of the species in the Crimea is not correct, according to Steven, who was a resident in the country.[1649] Perhaps botanists have overlooked its habitation; perhaps the plant has disappeared from its original dwelling; perhaps also it is a mere modification, effected by culture, of _Pisum arvense_. Alefeld held the latter opinion,[1650] but he has published too little on the subject for us to be able to conclude anything from it. He only says that, having cultivated a great number of varieties both of the field and garden pea, he concludes that they belong to the same species. Darwin[1651] learnt through a third person that Andrew Knight had crossed the field-pea with a garden variety known as the Prussian pea, and that the product was fertile. This would certainly be a proof of specific unity, but further observation and experiment is required. In the mean time, in the search for geographic origin, etc., I am obliged to consider the two forms separately. Botanists who distinguish many species in the genus Pisum, admit eight, all European or Asiatic. _Pisum sativum_ was cultivated by the Greeks in the time of Theophrastus.[1652] They called it _pisos_, or _pison_. The Albanians, descendants of the Pelasgians, call it _pizelle_.[1653] The Latins had _pisum_.[1654] This uniformity of nomenclature seems to show that the Aryans knew the plant when they arrived in Greece and Italy, and perhaps brought it with them. Other Aryan languages have several names for the generic sense of _pea_; but it is evident, from Adolphe Pictet’s learned discussion on the subject,[1655] that none of these names can be applied to _Pisum sativum_ in particular. Even when one of the modern languages, Slav or Breton, limits the sense to the garden-pea, it is very probable that formerly the word signified field-pea, lentil, or any other leguminous plant.