Vicia villosa subsp. villosa

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Hairy vetch is a naturalized annual found in grasslands, roadsides, and disturbed areas across northern California coastal regions, central Sierra Nevada foothills, Central Valley, coastal areas, Channel Islands, and Great Basin at elevations to 2,090 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces purple to blue flowers in dense clusters with 19 or more blooms, each flower 14 to 18 millimeters long. Growing with spreading stems 30 to 60 centimeters tall, the plant is characterized by conspicuous, spreading hairs 1 to 2 millimeters long on upper stems. Its compound leaves feature widely lanceolate stipules and multiple leaflets, with each leaf having soft hairs contributing to the plant's distinctive texture. The plant produces smooth, glabrous seed pods that develop after flowering.

Habitat: Grassland, roadside, disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 2090 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, NCoRI, c SNF, n SNH, GV, CW (exc SCoRI), SCo, n ChI, SnGb, PR (exc SnJt), GB (exc W&ampI)

California counties: Alpine, Sonoma, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Kern, Nevada, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Amador, El Dorado, Calaveras, Sutter, Placer, Solano, Sacramento, Butte, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Yolo, Trinity, Siskiyou, Colusa, Lassen, Humboldt, Santa Cruz, Mono, Alameda, Napa, Tuolumne, Modoc, Fresno, Ventura, Mendocino, Monterey, Lake, Orange

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