Common name:
Louisiana vetch
Family:
Scientific name:
Vicia ludoviciana
Main flower color:
Range:
From California to Texas and Oklahoma
Height:
Up to 40 inches
Habitat:
Streambanks, hillsides, grassland, woodland
Leaves:
Compound, with 4 to 10 leaflets, narrowly oblong, up to 1 inch in length
Season:
March to June
Leaves and stems of vicia ludoviciana may be hairless or sparsely hairy. Stems are several feet high, generally sprawling, prostrate or climbing over neighboring vegetation. Leaves have small stipules at the base, and are divided into pairs of narrow, sharp-tipped leaflets. Sometimes the leaflets are flat (truncate) at the apex. Leaves terminate in a coiled tendril. Stems are ridged, square in cross-section.
Flowers are produced singly or in groups of up to three, on a short, branched stalk, about the same length as the leaves, or shorter. Flowers have a pinkish calyx with small lobes, much shorter than the calyx tube, and a pink or bluish corolla, less than a quarter of an inch long. The banner petal is the largest, bent back by about 90 degrees. The two wing petals point forwards. Seed pods are light brown, around one inch long and 0.2 inches wide, cylindrical or somewhat flattened.
Flowers are produced singly or in groups of up to three, on a short, branched stalk, about the same length as the leaves, or shorter. Flowers have a pinkish calyx with small lobes, much shorter than the calyx tube, and a pink or bluish corolla, less than a quarter of an inch long. The banner petal is the largest, bent back by about 90 degrees. The two wing petals point forwards. Seed pods are light brown, around one inch long and 0.2 inches wide, cylindrical or somewhat flattened.
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