Pea Milk

Milk pea is a perennial, viney member of the pea family. It winds its way across the southeastern dry forests, blooming in summer, with tiny, pink to purple flowers.

The milk pea seeds are an important part of the Northern bobwhite quail diet and are also eaten by other birds and small mammals. White-tailed deer occasionally browse on the leaves and stems of the plants. Milk pea blossoms attract butterflies and the vegetation is frequently used as a host site for developing caterpillars. Animals are the main dispersers of the plant's seeds.

Milk pea plants are nitrogen fixers that help to build and maintain healthy soils.

There are 11 different species, but many of them are difficult to identify. The most common milk pea grows from Texas to Florida and north to New York and Kansas.

Identifying Characteristics
Size/Form: Milk pea is a thin-stalked, trailing vine with tiny, dense hairs, 3' to 6' long, that lies prostrate along the ground. The slender vines wind on itself and on nearby vegetation.
Leaves: The leaves are alternately arranged and compound. Leaflets are ovate, up to 3" long and 1 ½" wide, with rounded bases and leaf tips. There is often a tiny point, or indentation at the tip. The underside of leaves is often covered with downy hairs.
Flowers: The small, pink, or purple flowers are less than 1" long and pea-like. They grow on stalks that are often shorter than the leaves.
Fruit: Fruits are a long, thin, flattened, hairy pod, about 3" long, that holds 2 to 8 seeds.
Habitat: Milk pea grows well in moist to dry sites and in open to semi-shady forest plantations, flatwoods, and sandhills.