Yellow Vetchling

(Lathyrus pratensis)

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of "Debbie", Picasaweb

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Yellow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis L.)

Identification: A climbing vine. Flowers yellow, pealike, arranged in a long cluster on a long flower stalk arising from a leaf axil. Stem without wings. Leaves with one pair of opposite leaflets and an apical tendril. Leaf axil with a pair of leafletlike, pointed stipules.

Distribution: Across southeastern Canada southward to Illinois in the West and New York and New England in the east.

Habitat: Yellow Vetchling is found in meadows, along lake and pond shores, and along roadsides.

Flowering period: June to August.

Similar Species: The yellow flowers and the leaflike stipules in the leaf axils easily identify this species.