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Sea Pea

The sea pea grows wild upon our sea coasts, where its roots penetrate to a considerable depth, and also spread in various directions for several feet just under the surface. The peas have a bitterish, disagreeable taste, and therefore, whilst more pleasant food is to be obtained, these are rejected; but in times of scarcity they have been the means of preserving thousands of families from perishing, the unpleasant flavour at such times weighing little against the demands of a keen appetite. Both Howe and Camden relate that in the year 1555, being a year of great dearth, the people collected large quantities of these peas in Suffolk, upon a barren path, where even grass would not grow; and as they never had observed any such plant as this there in the time of their fulness, when the eye is careless, they attributed their springing up then to miraculous agency--a miracle to keep the poor from starving--though in all probability they had been growing in the same locality for centuries.