Vicia sativa, Common Vetch

Scientific Name: Vicia sativa

Vicia sativa, more commonly known as Common Vetch, is a member of the pea family (legumes), and is able to make its own nitrates, a special nutrient essential for healthy plant growth. This makes it useful as a soil-fertilising plant and is often also used as livestock fodder.

It grows well in grassland, farmland, waste ground and roadside verges, as well as coastal habitats, such as sand dunes. Groups of one or two pink flowers appear between May and September. Common Vetch is a scrambling plant with long, twining stems that have curly tendrils on the ends.

Its leaves are like folded ovals spaced out opposite one another along the stems, and the flowers are pinky-purple and pea-like. Widespread, but less common in the north.

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