Nearctica - Eastern Wildflowers - Fabaceae

Cow Vetch

(Vicia cracca)

Color drawing: C. A. M. Lindman (1901-1905), Bilder ur Nordens Flora.

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

Cow Vetch (Vicia cracca L.)

Alien: Native of Europe.

Identification: A climbing vine. Flowers blue-violet to purple, arranged in a crowded, one-sided spike arising on a long flower stalk from the leaf axil. Short stem connecting flower to the flower cluster (pedicel) arises from the rear margin of the calyx. Stem smooth. Leaves divided into 5 to 12 pairs of opposite leaflets with an apical tendril. Apex of each leaflet pointed.

Distribution: Southeastern Canada southward to Missouri in the west to Georgia in the east.

Habitat: Cow Vetch is found in fields, pastures, and thickets.

Flowering period: May to August.

Similar Species: Cow Vetch is very similar to Hairy Vetch. However Hairy Vetch is covered with fine hairs. The short stem connecting the flower to the flower cluster (pedicel) appears to arise from the rear margin of the calyx. The leaflets of Spring Vetch are truncated and notched. The flowers of Purple vetch are bicolored, purple not blue, and in smaller spikes.