cream pea

not listed

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

not listed

Cream pea is a perennial forb that rises from a horizontal, underground, creeping stem (rhizome) and a fibrous root system.

The stems are slender, hairless, up to 32″ long, and trail on the ground or climb over adjacent vegetation. They may be angled or round; green or purplish-brown; and covered with a whitish waxy bloom (glaucous)… or not. They are not winged.

The leaves are alternate and compound. They are on ⅜″ to 1¼″ long leaf stalks (petioles) and are divided into 3 to 5 widely-spaced pairs of large leaflets. At the end of each leaf there is a slender tendril. At the base of each leaf there is a pair of small, leaf-like appendages (stipules). The stipules are ⅝″ to 1¼″ long and asymmetrical. They are rounded at the base and sharply pointed at the tip, appearing half heart-shaped. They are often irregularly toothed. The shape of the stipules is distinctive, and can be used to identify the plant when no inflorescence is present.

The leaflets are opposite, thin, ellipse-shaped to lance egg-shaped, 1″ to 2″ long, and ½″ to 1¼″ wide. The upper surface is hairless and green. The lower surface is hairless and pale green. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is an unbranched cluster (raceme) of 5 to 10 flowers rising on a long stalk (peduncle) from some of the leaf axils. The raceme and peduncle together are 2½″ to 5″ long, shorter than the subtending leaf.

The individual flowers are ½″ to ¾″ long and pea-like. They have 5 sepals, 5 petals, 10 stamens, and 1 style. The sepals are united into a long bell-shaped tube at the base then separated into 5 unequal lobes. The upper two lobes are short and triangular, the lowest one long and narrowly lance-shaped, the lateral two intermediate in both size and shape. The 5 petals are white or yellowish-white and are organized into a broad banner at the top, 2 wings, and a keel in the center formed by two petals fused together at the tip. The banner is egg-shaped to nearly circular and is strongly bent backward. The wings are broadly egg-shaped and are curved around and over the keel. The keel is boat-shaped, shorter than the wings, and curved upward. The stamens have ½″ to 9 ⁄16″ long filaments. Nine of the filaments are fused to ⅜″ above the base, the tenth is free nearly to the base. The flowers turn orange before wilting.

The fruit is a hairless, cylinder-shaped, flattened, 1½″ to 2½″ long, ⅛″ to ¼″ in diameter seed pod.

Trailing or climbing: up to 32″ long

White or yellowish-white

Dry. Open, upland woodlands; woodland openings; thickets, bluffs; riverbanks, trailsides. Partial sun.

May to July

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Native

Common in Minnesota except in the southwest quarter of the state.

The specific epithet ochroleucus means “yellowish-white”, and accurately describes the color of the corolla.

Plant

Inflorescence

Flowers

Leaves

Location: Fairview Township, Cass County