Seasonal Wild Flowers

Shrubby Scorpion-vetch

Coronilla valentina var glauca

Fabaceae

March to May and sporadically through summer, with a

burst in autumn and through the winter. It was in flower in

West Dorset in January and February in 2018.

Widely planted, it is a sporadic naturalised escape

throughout the country especially in the Southwest.

See the BSBI distribution map for Shrubby Scorpion-vetch

It is a neophyte which was introduced to gardens in the UK

in the 1600s.

The escape mainly grows by the coast on cliffs,

hedgebanks and waste ground.

Shrubby Scorpion-vetch is an attractive, perennial,

nitrogen-fixing, shrub growing up to 1.5m.

The flowers are bright yellow, up to 14mm an in clusters of

up to 12.

The fruits (pods) are claw-like, jointed, pointed and up to

5cm.

The leaves are obovate and vary in colour from dark green

to light grey.

Shrubby Scorpion-vetch in a hedge, Devon

Clusters of flowers in West Dorset during January

Flower cluster

Close-up of flowers

Corolla tubes and sepals

Clusters of pods

Close-up of jointed pods

Leaves

Colonisation of cracks in pavement