''Lathyrus rigidus'' is a species of wild pea known by the common name stiff pea. It is native to the

Modoc Plateau __NOTOC__ The Modoc Plateau lies in the northeast corner of California as well as parts of Oregon and Nevada. Nearly of the Modoc National Forest are on the plateau between the Medicine Lake Highlands in the west and the Warner Mountains in the ...

and surrounding areas in the western United States from northeastern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. It is a plant of the

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an al ...

scrub and other habitat in the region. This is a perennial herb forming a clump of short, erect stems. The leaves are made up of several pairs of leaflets long each. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a dense raceme of two to five white or pink pea flowers, each roughly long. The fruit is a hairless legume pod.

External links

Calflora Database: ''Lathyrus rigidus'' (Rigid pea, Stiff pea)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Lathyrus rigidus''USDA Plants Profile
*
UC CalPhotos gallery
rigidus Flora of California Flora of Idaho Flora of Nevada Flora of Oregon Flora of the Great Basin ~ Critically endangered flora of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{fabeae-stub