Vicia benghalensis

Purple vetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Purple vetch is a naturalized annual found in coastal and valley regions of California, including the North Coast, Sacramento Valley, Central Western, and Southwestern areas, in grasslands, roadsides, and disturbed areas at elevations below 1,372 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces dark or red-purple flowers 12 to 18 millimeters long, clustered on one side of the flower axis. Growing with sprawling or climbing hairy stems 1 to 2 meters long, it has a distinctive climbing habit that allows it to spread across the landscape. Its leaves feature 10 to 16 elliptic to oblong leaflets, each 1.5 to 3 centimeters long, with widely lanceolate stipules that have entire or slightly toothed lower lobes. The fruit is a densely hairy pod 2.5 to 3.5 centimeters long and 8 to 12 millimeters wide, further characterizing this adaptable introduced species.

Habitat: Grassland, roadsides, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1372 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRO, NCoRI, ScV, CW (exc SCoRI), SW (exc SnBr, SnJt)

California counties: Sonoma, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Humboldt, Sutter, San Mateo, Monterey, Marin, Mendocino, Contra Costa, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Riverside, Santa Cruz, Napa, Sacramento, Kern, Tehama, Solano, Nevada, Yolo, Butte, El Dorado, Placer, Fresno, Ventura, San Bernardino, Trinity, Glenn, Colusa, Alameda, Orange, Alpine, Mariposa, Santa Clara, Yuba, Tulare

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.