Marsh Pea
Lathyrus palustris
Found in tidal freshwater marshes, calcareous fens, bottomland forests, other marshes, streambanks. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 76%
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Wet
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- April to August
- Fruiting season
- July to September
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Leaves
Height: NC species account not read yet.
Spread and leaves: no source found yet.
Recorded in 6 Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.
Who uses this plant?
20CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Lathyrus
- Apantesis phylliraPhyllira Tiger Moth
- Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
- Chloridea virescensTobacco Budworm Moth
- Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
- Colias eurythemeOrange Sulphur, Alfalfa Butterfly
- Colias philodiceClouded Sulphur, Clover Butterfly
- Cupido comyntasEastern Tailed-Blue
- Elasmopalpus lignosellaLesser Cornstalk Borer
- Epargyreus clarusSilver-Spotted Skipper
- Gesta juvenalisJuvenal's Duskywing
Show all 20
- Glaucopsyche lygdamusSilvery Blue
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Heliothis phloxiphagaSpotted Straw Sun Moth, Darker Spotted Straw Moth
- Melanchra adjunctaHitched Arches
- Melanchra pictaPainted Arches, Zebra Caterpillar Moth
- Pyrrhia exprimensPurple-Lined Sallow, Purple-Lined Sun Moth
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Trichoplusia niNi Moth, Cabbage Looper Moth
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
- Caryocolum pullatella
3BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Lathyrus
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
1Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Lathyrus
- Megachile melanophaea
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Lathyrus
- Agelaius phoeniceusRed-winged Blackbird
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Flower color
- White, blue, purple or violet
- Fruit begins
- July
- Fruit ends
- September
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “April to August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “White, blue, purple or violet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Fruit begins · “July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Marsh Vetchling
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Virginia DCR Natural Heritage rare plant list
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications