Common names:
Bush pea, Zion sweatpea
Family:
Scientific name:
Lathyrus brachycalyx
Main flower color:
Range:
West Nevada to southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico
Height:
Up to 2 feet; grows mostly sideways
Habitat:
Canyons, grassland, open woodland
Leaves:
Once pinnate - linear, opposite leaflets, several inches long
Season:
March to June
Lathyrus brachycalyx, is a creeper, growing close to the ground and forming tangled clusters of leaf stalks and flower stems. Flowers have the familiar pea-like structure, with a two-lobed petal at the top (the banner), and a hooded center of two smaller petals (the wings) enclosing two even smaller fused petals (the keel). Inner petals are whitish or light pink; the banner is dark pink and is crossed by prominent, lengthwise veins. Leaf stalks bear long, narrow leaflets at regular intervals, ending in a tendril which fastens on to adjacent stalks.
There are two sub species: ssp brachycalyx (Bonneville pea), found in parts of Nevada and northeast Utah, and the more common ssp zionis, found in south Utah, west to New Mexico.
There are two sub species: ssp brachycalyx (Bonneville pea), found in parts of Nevada and northeast Utah, and the more common ssp zionis, found in south Utah, west to New Mexico.
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