Seasonal Wild Flowers

Horseshoe Vetch

Hippocrepis comosa

Fabaceae

May to July

It grows mainly in the South, and is locally abundant in the

far Northwest, the East Midlands and the far Southeast.

It is absent from the far Southwest.

See the BSBI distribution map for Horseshoe Vetch

It grows in dry, calcareous, pastures, rocks and cliffs.

Horseshoe Vetch is a native, sprawling, nitrogen-fixing,

perennial herb, growing up to 40cm.

Flowers are bright yellow (up to 1cm), with up to 8 in a

flattish-head.

Flowers are not tinged with orange or red as in Bird's-foot

Trefoil.

Pods have several seeds and are broken up into 3 to 6

horseshoe-shaped segments.

Leaves are up to 8cm long, and made up of paired leaflets.

The stem is woody at the base.

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Horseshoe Vetch amid low brambles, Dorset

Side view of flowerhead

Flowerhead from above

Leaf with leaflets