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Lentil Vetch
Ervum tetraspermum
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Lentil vetch is a slender annual pea relative that climbs through other plants. It has tiny pale violet flowers and small smooth pods that usually hold several seeds. You often see it in dry, sunny, open places and along field margins and roadsides.
Did you know?
- The species name means “four-seeded”, because its pods usually contain four seeds.
- It climbs by using a thin curling tip at the end of each leaf.
About the species
Identification
A thin, climbing annual, 15–60 cm. Stems are weak, branched, angular and mostly smooth. Each leaf has 3–5 pairs of narrow leaflets and ends in a small curling tendril for climbing. Flower stalks are long and carry 1–3 tiny flowers (about 5–8 mm), pale bluish‑violet. Pods are small, smooth, brown, about 9–15 mm, usually with four seeds. Resembles other small vetches; the few-flowered stalks and smooth pods with usually four seeds help to tell it apart. Flowers in Finland from June to August.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
rock
Flowering
Jun–Aug
About the habitat
Dry, sunny grasslands and meadows, rocky ground and slopes, banks and cliffs, field edges, roadsides and other disturbed, open ground. Common in Åland, the southwest archipelago and southern Finland; rare in central Finland.
Sources
Photo: Aubrey French, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6178899141
Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Bomarsundin linnoitus, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38979
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A4kivirvil%C3%A4
