Common name:
Aspen pea
Family:
Scientific name:
Lathyrus laetivirens
Main flower color:
Range:
The Four Corners states, eastern Nevada and part of southern Wyoming
Height:
Up to 2 feet
Habitat:
Coniferous woodland, hillsides, from 6,000 to 11,000 feet
Leaves:
Alternate, stalked, pinnately divided into an even number (6 to 10) of ovate leaflets, up to 1.8 inches long and 1 inch wide
Season:
April to September
Lathyrus laetivirens is found mainly along the west edge of the Colorado Plateau in Utah, in central Arizona, and in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Stems are slender, vine-like, often using other plants for support. Leaves are even-pinnate, with three to five pairs of relatively broad, hairless leaflets (between 1.5 and 2.5 times as long as wide), while at the base is a pair of pointed, lanceolate stipules, around 0.3 inches in length.
Flowers grow in small clusters from the upper leaf nodes, not at the tip of the stem; they have a hairless, bell-shaped calyx, relatively short and broad, divided around a third of its length into triangular teeth, and a longer, mostly white corolla. The banner petal may be tinged with pink, and is crossed by purplish veins.
The similar and more widespread lathyrus lanszwertii has rather narrower leaflets.
Flowers grow in small clusters from the upper leaf nodes, not at the tip of the stem; they have a hairless, bell-shaped calyx, relatively short and broad, divided around a third of its length into triangular teeth, and a longer, mostly white corolla. The banner petal may be tinged with pink, and is crossed by purplish veins.
The similar and more widespread lathyrus lanszwertii has rather narrower leaflets.
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