Lathyrus hirsutus

Caley pea

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Caley pea is a naturalized annual found sporadically in California's Central Valley and Foothills in disturbed places, wet meadows, and creekbeds at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces striking two-toned pink to blue-purple flowers 9 to 14 millimeters long with a unique color gradient. Growing with distinctively winged stems and delicate tendrils, it reaches a moderate height with slender, branched climbing habit. Its leaves feature two narrow leaflets, each 3 to 6 centimeters long, ranging from narrowly elliptic to lance-oblong in shape. The plant's fruit is characterized by distinctive hairs with bulbous bases, adding textural interest to its slender structure.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed places, wet meadows, creekbeds

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (sporadic)

California counties: Mendocino, El Dorado, Sonoma, Napa, Yuba, Butte, San Diego, Plumas, Lake, Santa Cruz, Orange

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