Using the method described by GRIGA (1998), embryoids were obtained (through direct or indirect somatic embryogenesis) in cultures of shoot apical meristems of the following pea cultivars: Bankier, Dino, Hazard, Iłówiecki, Konserwowy IHAR, Kosynier, Makler, Oskar, Pegaz, as well as unregistered line HM-6. With cultivars Izolda and Lantra the efforts at somatic embryogenesis (SE) induction remained unsuccessful. The highest responsiveness to SE induction was observed (after 14 days of treatment with a relatively low concentration of picloram – 2.5 μM) in cultivars Oskar, Hazard and line HM-6, in which embryoids were formed with frequencies of 31, 15.9 and 12.5%, respectively. Increasing picloram level to 5 μM and extending period of induction to 28 days, it was possible to obtain SE efficiency above 10% in cultivars Konserwowy IHAR, Dino and Kosynier. Photoperiod affected SE efficiency and the degree and direction of this influence greatly depended on pea cultivar.