At long last!

Every year I grow this  old variety of Sweet Pea Lathyrus odoratus. In 1699 the Sicilian monk Franciscus Cupani, who was writing a Flora of Sicily, sent seeds of Lathyrus odoratus to various institutions and plant collectors.

Some came to Britain to a man called Dr Robert Uvedale, of Enfield, Middlesex. By 1793 the seedsman John Mason, of Fleet Street in London described five varieties derived from the original seeds sent by Brother Cupani.

The variety  that I grow is known as Matucana, and is very similar to the wild type. it has has the most wondrous fragrance and usually produces masses of crimson and violet blooms throughout the summer. This year, however,  it is only just getting into its stride in October, such being the awfulness of the summer that we have experienced.

Confusingly, Matucana is also the name of a genus of Cacti! Oh, the complexities of plant taxonomy!