Common names:
American vetch, wild vetch
Family:
Scientific name:
Vicia americana
Main flower color:
Range:
All the western states
Height:
Between 2 and 4 feet; climbing, or trailing
Habitat:
Meadows, hillsides, woodland, roadsides; moist, open or partly shaded sites at moderate elevations
Leaves:
Pinnately divided into 8 to 18 alternate, oblong or elliptic leaflets, up to 1.5 inches long
Season:
May to August
The leaves of vicia americana are somewhat variable in shape, but like most vetch species they terminate in a long, often coiling (and sometimes divided) tendril, which attaches to neighboring vegetation; this is a slender-stemmed plant, that can form dense, tangled clumps. Leaves are divided into non-overlapping leaflets, which may lie flat or curve up along the stalk axis. Leaf tips can be pointed or rounded. At the base of the leaf stalk are a pair of pointed, leaf-like stipules, which have 3 sharp teeth along the edge.
Plants produce several flower clusters, each typically containing between 2 and 9 heads, all of which generally point in the same direction. Flowers are colored pink to bluish purple, and like most pea-like species, have a wide, backwards curving banner petal above the four smaller inner petals. They are a little less than one inch in length. The hairless calyces are green or reddish, extending to five short lobes, of which three are a little longer than the other two.
Plants produce several flower clusters, each typically containing between 2 and 9 heads, all of which generally point in the same direction. Flowers are colored pink to bluish purple, and like most pea-like species, have a wide, backwards curving banner petal above the four smaller inner petals. They are a little less than one inch in length. The hairless calyces are green or reddish, extending to five short lobes, of which three are a little longer than the other two.
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