Click for a photograph of a field of Lathyrus leucanthus.

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.
Horse Creek Trail, June 25, 2004.

From low to high elevations this is an extremely common pea in the Western San Juans (and from Montana south to New Mexico and west to the Cascades and Sierras).  Although flowers are usually white, they often have tinges of pink and rust, especially as they fade.

Precise classification of this and similar peas is quite difficult.  According to Intermountain flora: "a settled taxonomy for the complex series of small-flowered mountain [peas]... will remain unattainable unless differential characters more reliable than those presently known can be found.... The flowers and pods of [these peas are] essentially identical... [but] pubescence..., number and [shape] of leaflets, development of tendrils, and size and color of petals are subject to much variation...."

The specific epithet is derived from Greek: "Leuc", "white" and "anthus", "flower".

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.
Colorado Trail above Roaring Fork, June 29, 2006.

Patches of plants with three inch long linear leaves occasionally mix in with the far more common inch long elliptical leaves shown above.

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.
Little Taylor Creek Trail, May 31, 2006.

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.
Lizard Head Trail, June 9, 2006.

Flowers fade to lovely shades of rust-yellow.