American Vetch
Vicia americana
A widespread native vetch that climbs by tendrils through grasses and low shrubs, carrying short clusters of blue-purple pea flowers in early summer. Fixes nitrogen and hosts several blues and skippers. Far better mannered than the introduced agricultural vetches it is often mistaken for.
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Type
- vine
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 1.3–1.3 ft
- Spacing
- 1–3 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- May, June, July
- Bloom colors
- purple
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, butterflies, larval host
- Landscape uses
- groundcover, erosion control, naturalizing
- Native states
- AK, AZ, CA, CO, DC, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, MD, MI, MN, MO, MT, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SD, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV, WY