Bituminaria bituminosa

Arabian pea, Arabian Pea

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Arabian pea is a naturalized perennial found in southern California coastal areas including the Verdugo Mountains and San Rafael Hills, and the southern California Transverse Ranges in open, disturbed sites, slopes, chaparral, and oak woodland at elevations below 1,100 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces white to violet flowers 12 to 14 millimeters long with distinctive fan-shaped bracts. Growing with strigose stems densely covered in white and black hairs, it forms a compact plant with leafy stems. Its compound leaves have entire leaflets 2 to 5 centimeters long, arranged alternately along the stem. The fruit is a compressed, hairy ovate body 4 to 5 millimeters long with a nearly glabrous beak 7 to 10 millimeters long.

Habitat: Open, disturbed sites, slopes, chaparral, oak woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: < 1100 m

Bioregions: SCo (Verdugo Mtns, San Rafael Hills), SnGb

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.