Common vetch

Common vetch (Vicia sativa) grows in grassy places and tilled ground throughout Great Britain, although it only lives up to its name in south-eastern England. It is an introduction from continental Europe, where various hybrids have been used for cattle food. 

There are two varieties of common vetch found in Great Britain, one with slender stems and narrow leaflets and the other with taller, stouter stems and broader leaflets. It was this second variety that was cultivated in Great Britain in the 18th century so that its seeds could be used for pigeon food. 

Common vetch can be distinguished from other types of vetch found in Britain because it usually has a pair of flowers and two black-blotched stipules at the base of each leaf. 

The stems of common vetch straggle along the ground or climb by means of tendrils on the leaves, which have four to eight pairs of leaflets. The plant grows up to 48 inches (120 cm) high. 

Common vetch flowers from May to September. The flowers are purple in colour. The pods are smooth or slightly hairy and contain between four and twelve seeds. 

© John Welford

Tufted vetch

Tufted vetch (Vicia cracca) is a common plant of grassland and hedgerows throughout much of Great Britain. Indeed, its tall spikes of up to 40 purple/blue flowers make it one of the more distinctive hedgerow plants. 

Tufted vetch is also sometimes used as a garden plant to provide a display of colour in late summer. This is despite its close relationship to the “hairy tare” (Vicia hirsuta) that is the “tare sown among the wheat” in the parable told by Jesus in Matthew chapter 13.

Tufted vetch climbs by means of branched tendrils that are similar to those used by other members of the pea family. The leaves have between 12 and 30 leaflets. The flowering spikes grow on stalks that are up to 80 inches (200 cms) long. Flowering is between June and August.

The sepals join in a tube that covers nearly half the flower. The seed pods are smooth and square-ended. They each contain up to six seeds.

© John Welford