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UK Nature > Wild Flowers > Blue & Purple Wild Flowers > Vicia cracca
Scientific Name: Vicia cracca Common Name: Tufted Vetch Vicia cracca, more commonly known as Tufted Vetch, Cat-peas, Cow-vetch and Fingers-and-thumbs (the pods end in a nail or claw). It is a scrambling plant with 10-40 blue violet flowers in a one sided cluster. Leaves are pinnate with 6-10 pairs of leaflets and branched tendrils at leaf tip. Found in grassy places, bushes, meadows and hedgerows, it is common throughout UK apart from the Scottish Highlands. Flowers June to August. A member of the pea family (legumes), Common Vetch is able to make its own nitrates. This makes it useful as a soil-fertilising plant and is also often used as livestock fodder. |
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