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

campo pea, pride-of-California

Habit Herbs perennial, from rhizome, glabrous except calyx ciliate. Herbs perennial, from rhizome, glabrate.
Stems

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

angled, sprawling, basally branched 0–3 times, 4–30 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.

5–8 cm;

tendrils well developed;

stipules lanceolate to linear, 10–20 × 2–8 mm, much smaller than leaflets;

leaflets 6–10, scattered, blades ovate to linear, 20–40 × 3–15 mm, surfaces glabrous throughout or sparsely pubescent abaxially.

Inflorescences

4–10(–13)-flowered, 3–12 cm.

6–10-flowered, 4–16 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.

25–30 mm;

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

corolla deep wine red, banner reflexed against calyx tube, blade much longer than claw, wings equal to keel;

ovary glandular-pubescent.

Legumes

30–70 × 4–7 mm.

50–80 × 5–9 mm.

2n

= 14.

= 14.

Lathyrus ochroleucus

Lathyrus splendens

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul. Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Moist woodlands, clearings, thickets, glades, meadows. Chaparral.
Elevation 0–1500 m. (0–4900 ft.) 50–1500 m. (200–4900 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 FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Morphological similarities between Lathyrus splendens and L. vestitus var. alefeldii (R. V. Bradshaw 1925; C. L. Hitchcock 1952) are such that these two taxa might be considered a parent-offspring species pair worthy of an evolutionary study of factors involved in their origin. Lathyrus splendens is known from the South Coast and Peninsular Ranges.

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

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. lanszwertii, 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. sulphureus, L. sylvestris, L. tingitanus, L. torreyi, L. tracyi, L. tuberosus, L. venosus, L. vestitus
Synonyms L. nevadensis subsp. stipulaceus
Name authority Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 159. (1831) Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 7: 90. (1877)
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