Massachusetts wildflowers & weeds | sweet beach pea vs. bittersweet nightshade, Good Harbor Beach dune plants

Beach pea (also known as sand pea) is a sweet native wildflower (Lathyrus japonicus) that’s easy to spot in the dunes– from any of the walkways.

The flowers with the purple petals and yellow stamen daggers in the mix are “bittersweet nightshade” also known as climbing nightshade and woody nightshade. Solanum dulcamara is poisonous and invasive and thus weed.