Vicia hirsuta

Hairy vetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Hairy vetch is a naturalized annual found in northern California coastal regions, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, central coastal California, San Francisco Bay Area, and southwestern California in open, disturbed sites in scrub, woodland, and forest at elevations below 1,372 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces dull white or pale blue flowers in small clusters of 2 to 8 blooms. Growing with decumbent or climbing slender stems 20 to 70 centimeters long, it has a delicate, spreading habit. Its compound leaves feature 10 to 16 narrow linear leaflets 5 to 15 millimeters long, typically with truncate or notched tips. The fruit is a 6 to 10 millimeter oblong pod with spreading hairs.

Habitat: Open, disturbed sites in scrub, woodland, forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 1372 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRO, n&ampc SNF, CCo, SnFrB, SW

California counties: Calaveras, Mendocino, Humboldt, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Placer, Riverside, Sonoma, Marin, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Butte, San Francisco

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