Common name:
Common vetch
Family:
Scientific name:
Vicia sativa
Main flower color:
Range:
California, west Oregon and west Washington; small areas of other states
Height:
Up to 6 feet
Habitat:
Fields, disturbed areas
Leaves:
Divided into 4 to 7 pairs of opposite leaflets, each up to 1.4 inches long, obovate or linear, (usually) with a spike at the tip and fine hairs along the edges
Season:
February to July
The pea-like flowers of vicia sativa grow from the middle to upper leaf nodes, one, two or three blooms per node. They have a wide, two-lobed light purple or pink outer petal (the banner), over one inch across, with purple veins, enclosing two smaller, darker-colored inner petals (the wings) and two even smaller fused petals (the keel). The freely branched stems are long and rigid, reaching heights of 6 feet or more, and have a square cross-section. Stalks of the compound leaves terminate in a branched tendril. There are four subspecies of vicia sativa (cordata, nigra, sativa and segetalis), differing in leaf shape and flower characteristics.
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