Vicia cracca

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{{Speciesbox |image = Tufted vetch close 800.jpg |display_parents = 2 |taxon = Vicia cracca |authority = L. }.}

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Vicia cracca (tufted vetch, cow vetch, bird vetch, blue vetch, boreal vetch), is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia. It occurs on other continents as an introduced species, including North America, where it is a common weed. It often occurs in disturbed habitats, including old fields and roadside ditches.

Description

Cow vetch is in the family Fabaceae and similar to a pea in growth habit with climbing stems growing to 150 cm long, perennial, [1] sending out noose-like branched tendrils from the tips of its leaves when it contacts another plant and securely fastens itself. This can cause "strangling" of smaller plants. An individual plant may reach a length (or height) of 2 m with a white taproot, which may extend up to 1 m. The leaves are 3–8 cm long, pinnate, with 8–12 pairs of leaflets, each leaflet 5–10 mm long.

The plant is fast-growing and flowers prolifically, sending out 10 to 40 flowered one-sided racemes cascading pea-flower shaped purple to violet flowers from the leaf axil during its late spring to late summer flowering period. The flowers are mostly visited by bumblebees; [2] when the flowers drop off and tiny bright green seed pods 10–20 mm long, start to form. [3] Cow vetch is very similar to hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa ), but is distinguished from the latter by its smooth stem.

Legumes and seeds Vicia cracca MHNT.BOT.2005.0.968.jpg
Legumes and seeds

The seed pods are 2 cm long and contain 6 to 8 seeds. [4] They resemble those of a very small pea. The tiny seeds within are ripe when the pods have turned black. Unripened seeds are swollen and have a green tint to them, but they unswell when they become ripe. The seed pods vary from light brown to dark brown with black spots.

Distribution

Vicia cracca is native to Europe and Asia, and has been introduced to large areas of North America. [5]

Habitat

Recorded as very frequent on waste ground as an introduced species occurring casually. [6] In hedges and waste places. [4]

Cultivation and uses

With Bombus sylvarum Bombus sylvarum - Vicia cracca - Keila.jpg
With Bombus sylvarum

Cow vetch is widely used as a forage crop for cattle, and is beneficial to other plants because, like other leguminous plants, it enriches the soil in which it grows by its nitrogen-fixing properties. Cow vetch is also much appreciated by bees and butterflies as a source of nectar. The plant may also be used to curb erosion.

Owners of pet birds such as budgerigars often use cow vetch as a nutritious food; the birds are especially fond of the seeds but may also eat the foliage.

Its utility as a cover crop and source of green manure has encouraged the introduction and naturalisation of cow vetch far beyond its native range. In North America the plant is naturalised from southern Canada to upstate South Carolina; it is considered an invasive weed in some areas and its sale may be regulated[ citation needed ].

Cow vetch can be a potentially detrimental species in areas where it is not native[ citation needed ]. The vetch may crowd out native plants, especially in areas of disturbed soil where the vetch may dominate before other plants have a chance to take hold. This is especially a concern in prairie and other natural habitat restoration or land reclamation projects in North America.

Related Research Articles

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<i>Vicia villosa</i> Species of legume

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<i>Cardamine hirsuta</i> Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

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<i>Vicia hirsuta</i> Species of legume

Vicia hirsuta is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae.

<i>Vicia tetrasperma</i> Species of legume

Vicia tetrasperma the smooth tare, smooth vetch, lentil vetch or sparrow vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae.

<i>Vicia sepium</i> Species of legume

Vicia sepium or bush vetch is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. A nitrogen-fixing, perennial, leguminous climbing plant that grows in hedgerows, grasslands, the edges of woodland, roadsides and rough ground. It occurs in western Europe, Crimea of Ukraine, Russia including Siberia, Caucasus and Central Asia. It can also be found in eastern Canada, north-eastern states of the USA and, where suitable habitat occurs, in Greenland. It is native to, and has been recorded in, almost all parts of Britain, Ireland and associated islands.

<i>Vicia sylvatica</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Vicia sylvatica, known as wood vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus.

<i>Vicia lathyroides</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Vicia lathyroides is a plant species in the bean family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe and western Asia, and it is known on other continents as an introduced species. It is an annual herb with pealike blue- or purple-tinged flowers about half a centimeter wide and hairless legume pods up to 3 centimeters long.

<i>Lathyrus linifolius</i> Species of plant

Lathyrus linifolius is a species of pea, commonly called bitter vetch or heath pea. The name bitter vetch is also sometimes used for Vicia ervilia and also for Vicia orobus. The tubers of Lathyrus linifolius were formerly used as an appetite suppressant in medieval Scotland, and this use has brought the plant to recent medical attention. Attempts are being made to cultivate the plant on a commercial scale.

<i>Vicia benghalensis</i> Species of legume

Vicia benghalensis is a species of vetch known by the common names purple vetch and reddish tufted vetch. It is native to southern Europe, North Africa, and nearby islands, and it is utilized elsewhere in agriculture and may be present in the wild as an introduced species. It is an annual herb with a climbing stem which is coated in hairs, often densely, making the plant appear silvery white. Each leaf is made up of several pairs of elongated leaflets which measure up to 3 centimeters in length. The inflorescence is a one-side raceme of several dark reddish purple flowers. Each flower has a densely hairy calyx of sepals and a tubular corolla between one and two centimeters in length. The fruit is a flat, hairy legume pod up to 3.5 centimeters long containing multiple seeds.

<i>Vicia menziesii</i> Species of legume

Vicia menziesii is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name Hawaiian vetch. It is endemic to Hawaii, where it is known only from the island of Hawaii. It is threatened by habitat loss and exotic plants. It has been federally listed as an endangered species of the United States since 1978. It was the first Hawaiian plant to be placed on the Endangered Species List.

<i>Vicia orobus</i> Species of legume

Vicia orobus is a species of leguminous plant in the genus Vicia, known as wood bitter-vetch. It is found in Atlantic areas of Europe, especially in the rocky edges of seasonally-grazed fields. It grows up to 60 cm (24 in) tall, and has no tendrils at the ends of its pinnate leaves. Its flowers are white with purple veins, and are borne in groups of 6 or more.

<i>Astragalus danicus</i> Species of legume

Astragalus danicus, known as purple milk-vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae (legumes), which is native to Europe.

<i>Astragalus crassicarpus</i> Species of legume

Astragalus crassicarpus, known as ground plum or buffalo plum, is a perennial species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, native to North America. It was described in 1813. The fruit is edible and was used by Native Americans as food and horse medicine. It is a host of afranius duskywing larvae. It is also known as groundplum milkvetch and pomme de prairie.

<i>Vicia grandiflora</i> Species of plant

Vicia grandiflora, commonly known as large yellow vetch and bigflower vetch, as well as large-flowered vetch, is a common herbaceous plant species in the family Fabaceae, which occurs as a native plant species in Europe and Asia, as well as an introduced vetch species in North America.

<i>Vicia tenuifolia</i> Species of plant

Vicia tenuifolia, the fine-leaved vetch,cow vetch, fodder vetch or bramble vetch, is a herbaceous perennial plant species in the family Fabaceae. This species is widespread in Europe and some parts of both Asia and Africa. In some other areas it occurs as an introduced species. In a few countries this edible vetch is used as food for both humans and farm animals.

<i>Vicia bithynica</i> Species of flowering plant

Vicia bithynica known as Bithynian vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus, initially as Lathyrus bithynicus but later moved to the genus Vicia (vetches). The specific name is derived from Bithynia, an ancient kingdom situated on the north coast of Anatolia, in modern day Turkey.

References

  1. ↑ Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. (2012). Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN   978-185918-4783
  2. ↑ Van Der Kooi, C. J.; Pen, I.; Staal, M.; Stavenga, D. G.; Elzenga, J. T. M. (2015). "Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers". Plant Biology. 18 (1): 56–62. doi:10.1111/plb.12328. PMID   25754608.
  3. ↑ Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. (1968). Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   0 521 04656 4.
  4. 1 2 Webb, S.A., Parnell, J. and Doogue, D. (1996). An Irish Flora. Dundalgen Press Ltd. Dundalk. ISBN   0-85221-131-7.
  5. ↑ Burnham, Robyn J. "Vicia cracca". Climbers. University of Michigan. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  6. ↑ Hackney, P. (Ed) 1992. Stewart and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland Third Edition. Institute of Irish Studies. The Queen's University of Belfast. ISBN   0-85389-446-9
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