Spring vetch

Common Name:

vetch, spring

Scientific Name:

Vicia lathyroides

Family:

Fabaceae

Lifecycle:

Annual

Features

Small winter annual species. Pinnately compound leaves. Leaflets <0.5 cm in diameter. Leaves with a grasping tendril at end of leaf. Flowers white to pink, small, solitary, bilaterally symmetrical. Producing a flattened short seedpod.

Description

Common along roadsides, pastures, and other infrequently mowed areas. Smallest, most diminutive of vetch species. Leaves narrow, thin. Forms a weak dense mat, weakly rooted.