Purple Vetch

(Vicia americana)

 

Color Photograph: U.S. National Parks Service

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

Purple Vetch (Vicia americana)

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.

Purple Vetch (Vicia americana)

Similar Species:

Spring Vetch (Vicia sativa)

Cow Vetch (Vicia cracca)

Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosa)

 

Similar Species