Few-flowered Pea, Few-flowered Vetchling, Utah Sweet Pea: Lathyrus pauciflorus var. pauciflorus (Synonyms: Lathyrus pauciflorus ssp. pauciflorus, Lathyrus pauciflorus var. tenuior)

Sideview of the flower of Few-flowered Pea, Few-flowered Vetchling, Utah Sweet Pea: Lathyrus pauciflorus var. pauciflorus (Synonyms: Lathyrus pauciflorus ssp. pauciflorus, Lathyrus pauciflorus var. tenuior)

The photo at right shows a close-up of the calyx of Lathyrus pauciflorus var. pauciflorus as seen at the crest of the Columbia Hills, Columbia River Gorge.........May 14, 2006.

Few-flowered pea is a spreading to erect perennial wildflower with one to several simple to branched stems arising from 30-100 cm long from a buried crown atop a taproot. The foliage and stout, angled stems are typically glabrous or glaucous, although the margins of the calyx teeth may be ringed with minute hairs. The leafy stipules are generally wider than long and range from 2-26 mm long and 12-35 mm wide. The leaves are thick and leathery, and the 5-11 leaflets are linear, narrowly lanceolate, elliptic or ovate-obovate in shape. The leaves (including the branched tendrils) measure 7-17 cm long while the leaflets measure from 3-7 cm long and 0.2-2.6 cm wide.

The inflorescence consists of a raceme of 2-11 loosely spaced flowers atop a flower stem that is generally held above the uppermost leaves. The broadly cup-shaped calyx tube measures from 4.5-6.5 mm long with 5 ciliate-margined teeth. The uppermost pair of teeth are shorter than the 3 lower teeth, which are nearly as long as the calyx tube. The corolla measures 2.5-3.5 cm long and is lilac, violet or orchid in color. The banner is 15-26 mm long while the wings are slightly shorter and the keel much-shorter. The obliquely lanceolate fruits are glabrous and measure from 3-6 cm long and 6-11 mm wide.

Few-flowered pea is often found with sagebrush, few-flowered pea may also be found in grasslands, amongst ponderosa pine or montane forests, and on talus from 100-2500 meters of elevation.

Pinnately compound leaf of Lathyrus pauciflorus var. pauciflorus as seen at the crest of the Columbia Hills, Columbia River Gorge........May 14, 2006.

Few-flowered pea may be found east of the Cascade Mts. from Chelan County, Washington east to Idaho and south to southern California and at the eastern edge of its range, through central Utah and southwestern Colorado to northeastern Arizona.

The photo above shows a good close-up of the stigma and style (along with the stamens) of few-flowered pea. Note that the hairs just below the tip of the stigma are not wrapped completely around the stigma as in the genus Vicia. Photographed in oak woodlands along the River Route Road, a logging road that follows the upper Klickitat River into the Yakama Reservation.........May 26, 2008.

The photo at left shows a good close-up of the upper stem leaves and inflorescence of few-flowered pea. Photographed in oak woodlands along the River Route Road, a logging road that follows the upper Klickitat River into the Yakama Reservation.........May 26, 2008. Plants at this location have both very long, linear leaflets as well as the shorter, broader ones seen here. The photo at right shows few-flowered pea as seen in open oak woodlands on the southeast-facing slopes of Grayback Mountain, about 6 miles south of the Klickitat-Yakima County line.....May 14, 2023.

The 3 photos above show close-ups of the leaves and flowers of few-flowered pea. Photographed in oak woodlands along the River Route Road, a logging road that follows the upper Klickitat River into the Yakama Reservation.........May 26, 2008.