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Tufted Vetch
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Faboideae Genus: Vicia Species: V. cracca
Binomial name
Vicia cracca L.

Tufted Vetch Vicia cracca, also occasionally known as Cow Vetch or Bird Vetch, is a common species of vetch native throughout most of North America, Europe and Asia. It occurs in grassy fields and meadows, and roadside ditches.

Tufted Vetch is similar to a pea in growth habit, sending out noose-like 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 and its tap root 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.

close-up of flowers

The plant is fast-growing and flowers prolifically, sending out one-sided racemes of cascading pea-flower shaped purple to violet flowers from the leaf axil during its late spring to late summer flowering period. Near August, the flowers drop off and tiny bright green seed pods start to form. Tufted Vetch is very similar to Hairy Vetch, but is distinguished from the latter by its smooth stem.

The seed pods are 2 cm long, and like the flowers, 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.

Tufted 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. Tufted 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 Tufted 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 Tufted Vetch far beyond its native range. In North America the plant is naturalised from southern Canada to southern Virginia; it is considered an invasive weed in some areas and its sale may be regulated.

A patch of Tufted Vetch in an Ontario field.

Tufted Vetch is considered by some to be a potentially detrimental species in areas where it is not native. 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.

A collection of Tufted Vetch seeds from seed pods