Vetches

(Vicia spp.)

Fabaceae (Legume Family)

▲▼young plants

▲▼ flowering plants

▲▼ flowering plants

▲▼ field of vetch, including some on barb-wire fence

▲▼ flowers

▲ leaf showing tendril at tip

▲ seed pods

Vetches: (not in Weeds of the Great Plains; pp. 238-241 in Weeds of the Northeast)

·         may be annual or perennial

·         commonly have climbing growth habit, with tendrils at the end of pinnately compound leaves

·         hairy vetch is most common in southwest Missouri—has hairy stems & purple flowers in axillary racemes; a winter annual or biennial weed

·         prefer well-drained, sandy soils

·         weeds of agronomic crops (particularly winter annual crops), vegetable crops, fruit crops & nursery plant production

·         also used as a forage, cover-crop, green manure crop or for hay