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Spring Vetch

Vicia sativa

Description:

Vine with magenta flowers that resemble those on Western Redbud. The leaves are small, smooth-edged and oval. Tendrils help it attach to nearby plants. "This is an annual herb with hollow, four-sided, hairless to hairy stems which can reach two meters in maximum length. The leaves are each made up of a few pairs of linear, lance-shaped, oblong, or wedge-shaped, needle-tipped leaflets up to 3.5 centimeters long. The pealike flowers occur in the leaf axils, solitary or in clusters of up to three. The flower corolla is 1 to 3 centimeters in length and whitish to bluish to red or bright pink-purple in color. The fruit is a legume pod up to 6 or 7 centimeters long which is hairy when new and smooth later. It contains up to 12 seeds." - Wikipedia

Habitat:

Along trail on hillside at Blue Sky Ecological Reserve

Notes:

This is not native to California. "Horses thrive very well on Common Vetch, even better than on clover and rye grass; the same applies to fattening cattle, which feed faster on vetch than on most grasses or other edible plants. Danger often arises from livestock eating too much vetch, especially when podded; colics and other stomach disorders are apt to be produced by the excessive loads devoured. Cereal grains can be sown with vetch so it can use their stronger stems for support, attaching via tendrils. When grown with oats or other grasses, the vetch can grow upright; otherwise its weak stems may sprawl along the ground. Several cultivars are available for agricultural use, and as for some other legume crops, rhizobia can be added to the seed" - Wikipedia

1 Species ID Suggestions

misako
misako 12 years ago
vetch
vicia sp Vicia


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1 Comment

CindyBinghamKeiser
CindyBinghamKeiser 12 years ago

Thank you for the ID!

Poway, California, USA

Spotted on Feb 16, 2012
Submitted on Feb 16, 2012

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