How do you recognise Tufted vetch (Vicia cracca)?

Leaf

Rodion Andreev, Wikimedia · CC BY 4.0

Tufted vetch

Vicia cracca L.

Also known as: Cow vetch, Bird vetch

Family: Fabaceae

60 cm to 1.5 m, in climbing stems

Meadows, hedges, banks, woodland edges

Flowering: June – August

Full sun

Part shade

Hardy to -15°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

Dense, one-sided raceme of small blue-violet flowers — very recognisable in June meadows. Both are legumes with large compound leaves, but wild tufted vetch climbs by tendrils and bears small violet flowers in a raceme, whereas the cultivated broad bean is upright with large white flowers blotched with black.

🍃 Leaves

Many small narrow leaflets, ending in a branched tendril

🌸 Flowers

Blue-violet, numerous, in a dense one-sided raceme

🍎 Fruits

Small brown pods

🪵 Bark

Climbing herbaceous stem, slightly hairy

🗺️ Distribution

Europe, temperate Asia; very common in meadows and grassy banks in France.

🐝 Value for pollinators

Blue-violet flower clusters very rich in nectar, among the most visited by bumblebees in meadows.

✂️ Horticultural uses

Wildflower meadows, naturalistic gardens; light climbing plant with tendrils, little grown in ornamental borders.

⚠️ Possible toxicity

Seeds slightly toxic in large quantities (like other wild legumes).

⚠️ Look-alike species

Tufted vetch

Vicia cracca

Broad bean

Vicia faba

Both are legumes with large compound leaves, but wild tufted vetch climbs by tendrils and bears small violet flowers in a raceme, whereas the cultivated broad bean is upright with large white flowers blotched with black.

🌿 Other Fabaceae to discover

Styphnolobium japonicum

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.