It is native to southern, central Europe and western Asia, and it is sometimes cultivated as an agricultural crop for use as hay and fodder.It may escape cultivation and grow as a casual roadside weed.
This is an annual herb producing a hairy, climbing stem supported by the tendrils on its leaf-tips. The leaves are each made up of 10 to 20 oval or oblong leaflets measuring up to 2.5 centimeters in length. The inflorescence bears two to four pealike flowers each up to 2 centimeters long. The flower corolla is yellow or purple-marked and the back of the banner (the large top petal) is coated in soft hairs. The fruit is a hairy legume pod 2 to 3 centimeters long.
This plant might be poisonous
How to get rid of:
Control common vetch with a post-emergent two-, three-, and four-way broadleaf herbicide. Herbicides containing triclopyr and clopyralid, as well as fluroxypyr products are efficient herbicide controls.
