Wildflowers
of
Baxter State Park

Cow Vetch (Tufted Vetch)
Pea Family
(Vicia cracca )alien

Appearance: Annual or short-lived perennial herbaceous plants. Their weak stems grow 2 - 3' high and clamber over other vegetation, smothering it. The stem of hairy vetch has spreading hairs.

Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound (leaflets on both sides of a common stalk); 8 -12 pairs of narrow oval-shaped opposite leaflets.

Flowers: Violet-blue on cow vetch and blue and white on hairy vetch. They are clustered on one-sided spikes and bloom from May to August.

Seeds: Seeds are contained in numerous inch long pods. Pods of cow vetch are brownish lance-shaped and flat; pods of hairy vetch are gray to black and hairy.

Roots: Both plants have a 1- 3' long taproot.

 

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