The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

cream pea, cream vetchling, cream-flower peavine, cream-flower sweet pea, creamy peavine, pale vetchling

aspen peavine, lanszwert's pea, lanszwert's vetchling, Nevada pea, Nevada peavine, Nevada sweet pea, pinewood peavine, Rocky Mountain sweetpea, thick-leaf pea, thick-leaf peavine

Habit Herbs perennial, from rhizome, glabrous except calyx ciliate. Herbs perennial, from rhizome, glabrous or sparsely pubescent.
Stems

angled, sprawling or climbing, basally branched 0–3 times, 3–8 dm.

angled, erect, sprawling, or climbing, basally branched 0–4 times, 1–8 dm.

Leaves

(2–)3–10 cm;

tendrils well developed;

stipules somewhat foliose, ovate-lanceolate, 15–35 × 5–20 mm, sometimes equal to distal leaflets;

leaflets (5 or)6(–8), usually paired, blades broadly ovate to lanceolate, (20–)25–65 × 10–35(–42) mm, surfaces glabrous.

(0.5–)1–8 cm;

tendrils mucronate to well developed;

stipules linear to lanceolate, 5–25 × 1–6 mm, much smaller than leaflets;

leaflets 2–10, scattered, blades lanceolate or linear, 20–70 × 2–20 mm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent.

Inflorescences

4–10(–13)-flowered, 3–12 cm.

2–6-flowered, 2–10 cm.

Flowers

10–15 mm;

calyx lobes unequal, lateral lobes lanceolate, usually longer than tube;

corolla cream-white, banner erect, blade longer than claw, wings equal to keel;

ovary glabrous.

7–15 mm;

calyx lobes unequal, lateral lobes deltate, shorter than tube;

corolla white or blue-purple, banner erect, blade equal to claw, wings equal to keel;

ovary glabrous.

Legumes

30–70 × 4–7 mm.

25–45 × 6–10 mm.

2n

= 14.

Lathyrus ochroleucus

Lathyrus lanszwertii

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul.
Habitat Moist woodlands, clearings, thickets, glades, meadows.
Elevation 0–1500 m. (0–4900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; IA; ID; IL; IN; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SD; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
w North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 5 (5 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Stems (2–)3–8 dm, usually climbing, sometimes sprawling or erect; tendrils well developed, usually branched.
→ 2
2. Leaflets 8–10; corollas blue-purple; California northward to Washington, eastward to Colorado and Wyoming.
var. lanszwertii
2. Leaflets 6–8; corollas white; w Colorado, c Utah, Wyoming.
var. pallescens
1. Stems 1–3(–4) dm, usually erect (sometimes var. bijugatus sprawling or climbing); tendrils reduced to simple bristles less than 1 cm.
→ 3
3. Leaflets 2–4; e Washington, adjacent Idaho, Montana, British Columbia.
var. bijugatus
3. Leaflets 4–8; California northward to sc Washington and eastward to New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.
→ 4
4. Flowers 7–10 mm; California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington.
var. aridus
4. Flowers 10–15 mm; Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming.
var. leucanthus
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lathyrus Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lathyrus
Sibling taxa
L. angulatus, L. aphaca, L. biflorus, L. brachycalyx, L. brownii, L. cicera, L. decaphyllus, L. delnorticus, L. eucosmus, L. glandulosus, L. graminifolius, L. grimesii, L. hirsutus, L. hitchcockianus, L. holochlorus, L. japonicus, L. jepsonii, L. laetivirens, L. lanszwertii, L. latifolius, L. littoralis, L. nevadensis, L. nissolia, L. odoratus, L. palustris, L. pauciflorus, L. polyphyllus, L. pratensis, L. pusillus, L. rigidus, L. sphaericus, L. splendens, L. sulphureus, L. sylvestris, L. tingitanus, L. torreyi, L. tracyi, L. tuberosus, L. venosus, L. vestitus
L. angulatus, L. aphaca, L. biflorus, L. brachycalyx, L. brownii, L. cicera, L. decaphyllus, L. delnorticus, L. eucosmus, L. glandulosus, L. graminifolius, L. grimesii, L. hirsutus, L. hitchcockianus, L. holochlorus, L. japonicus, L. jepsonii, L. laetivirens, L. latifolius, L. littoralis, L. nevadensis, L. nissolia, L. ochroleucus, L. odoratus, L. palustris, L. pauciflorus, L. polyphyllus, L. pratensis, L. pusillus, L. rigidus, L. sphaericus, L. splendens, L. sulphureus, L. sylvestris, L. tingitanus, L. torreyi, L. tracyi, L. tuberosus, L. venosus, L. vestitus
Subordinate taxa
L. lanszwertii var. aridus, L. lanszwertii var. bijugatus, L. lanszwertii var. lanszwertii, L. lanszwertii var. leucanthus, L. lanszwertii var. pallescens
Synonyms L. nevadensis subsp. stipulaceus
Name authority Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 159. (1831) Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 150, fig. 44. (1863)
Web links