Toiletries. Lathyrus tuberosus, Earthnut Pea or Mice-with-Tails, Océ-weerd, Meuse Corridor, Venlo, The Netherlands
As I stumbled about on the wilder, pathless parts of the Meuse Corridor I sprained my foot but was glad to fall head-long into a patch of Earthnut Pea, Lathyrus tuberosus. So recovering I sat down and looked more closely at the pretty flowers of this Sweet Pea.
Lathyrus tuberous also goes by the curious name 'Mice-with-tails' in various European languages (in The Netherlands 'Muizen-met-staarten' devolves in particular to the Betuwe region where there was once some minor cultivation of this plant).
Whence that name if the flowers don't remotely look like mice? Well, the tubers apparently remind of mice because of their small, blackish oblong shape with a 'string' (=mouse's tail) attached. These tubers, though small, are said to be good to eat after roasting or cooking, tasting a bit like Tame Chestnuts.
Mostly though this Sweet Pea is a thing of beauty.
But I found a number of references to the use of the flowers of Earthnut Pea for the production of an aromatic oil in the seventeenth century. A bit hard to trace the origin of that assertion. In the end I did find the work of a Swiss-German chemist, one Christoph Heinrich Hirzel (1828-1908): his Die Toiletten-Chemie, The Chemistry of Toiletries (1892, 4th ed.). He gives a fascinating account and also a kind of recipe book for the manufacture of various toiletry sweeteners and aromatics. One is for 'Platterbsenessenz' or 'Dufterbsenöl' (Erbse=Pea). Hirzel recommends a mixture of: 1/4 litre of 'Tuberosenextract', 1/4 of Orange flower extract, 1/4 of Rose pomade, and 30 grams of Vanilla extract. His description concludes: "Diese Platterbsenessenz riecht sehr angenehm und erinnert an Orangeblüten"; a bit disingenuous I would think given that a quarter of the mixture is indeed that of Orange flower extract.
Regardless my sprained foot, my lack of having been able to savor the cooked tubers, and Hirzel's disingenuity, this is a Very Pretty Sweet Pea in full flower!
Toiletries. Lathyrus tuberosus, Earthnut Pea or Mice-with-Tails, Océ-weerd, Meuse Corridor, Venlo, The Netherlands
As I stumbled about on the wilder, pathless parts of the Meuse Corridor I sprained my foot but was glad to fall head-long into a patch of Earthnut Pea, Lathyrus tuberosus. So recovering I sat down and looked more closely at the pretty flowers of this Sweet Pea.
Lathyrus tuberous also goes by the curious name 'Mice-with-tails' in various European languages (in The Netherlands 'Muizen-met-staarten' devolves in particular to the Betuwe region where there was once some minor cultivation of this plant).
Whence that name if the flowers don't remotely look like mice? Well, the tubers apparently remind of mice because of their small, blackish oblong shape with a 'string' (=mouse's tail) attached. These tubers, though small, are said to be good to eat after roasting or cooking, tasting a bit like Tame Chestnuts.
Mostly though this Sweet Pea is a thing of beauty.
But I found a number of references to the use of the flowers of Earthnut Pea for the production of an aromatic oil in the seventeenth century. A bit hard to trace the origin of that assertion. In the end I did find the work of a Swiss-German chemist, one Christoph Heinrich Hirzel (1828-1908): his Die Toiletten-Chemie, The Chemistry of Toiletries (1892, 4th ed.). He gives a fascinating account and also a kind of recipe book for the manufacture of various toiletry sweeteners and aromatics. One is for 'Platterbsenessenz' or 'Dufterbsenöl' (Erbse=Pea). Hirzel recommends a mixture of: 1/4 litre of 'Tuberosenextract', 1/4 of Orange flower extract, 1/4 of Rose pomade, and 30 grams of Vanilla extract. His description concludes: "Diese Platterbsenessenz riecht sehr angenehm und erinnert an Orangeblüten"; a bit disingenuous I would think given that a quarter of the mixture is indeed that of Orange flower extract.
Regardless my sprained foot, my lack of having been able to savor the cooked tubers, and Hirzel's disingenuity, this is a Very Pretty Sweet Pea in full flower!