Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Lathyrus aphaca

Family

Fabaceae

Flowering season

June to August

English distribution

It is found mainly in the South and parts of the near

Southwest

and East Anglia.

See the BSBI distribution map for Yellow Vetchling

Habitat

It grows in dry, grassy places - usually near the coast.

Description

Yellow Vetchling is a native, annual, nitrogen-fixing,

scrambling, hairless and greyish herb, growing up

to 1m.

The flowers are yellow, up to 13mm, solitary and on long

stalks.

The calyx teeth are thin and pointed and are almost as

long as the flower.

The true leaves are absent - they have become simple

tendrils, and there are no leaflets.

The stipules have become leaf-like.

They are greyish, up to 3cm, and are shaped like an

oval-arrow.