Purple Vetch

(Vicia americana)

Purple Vetch (Vicia americana Muhl. ex Willd.)

Identification: Plant a climbing vine. Flowers with red-purple or violet upper petals (standard) and white lower petals. Flowers arranged in a loose raceme of 3 to 8 flowers. Stems smooth. Leaves divided into 4 to 9 pairs of opposite leaflet and an apical tendril. Leaflets pointed, not indented, at the tip.

Distribution: Canada southward to Illinois in the west and Virginia in the east. Also occurs throughout most of western North America.

Habitat: Purple Vetch is found in meadows and along the shores of ponds and lakes.

Flowering period: May to July.

Similar Species: Spring Vetch has the leaflets truncate and indented at their tips. The flowers are borne singly or in pairs in the leaf axils. The flowers of Cow Vetch are borne in a crowded, one-sided spike and are bluer than those of Purple Vetch. Hairy Vetch is hairy, not smooth.