Where do Vetches grow?

Distribution: American vetch grows in medium- to finely- textured moist to dry soils in full sun. It is widely distributed west of the Mississippi River and in the northeastern United States (USDA cold hardiness zones 4 through 7).

How do you tell Vetches apart?

The main difference between the two species is size: hairy vetch grows as a sprawling mass about knee high, while common vetch can get waist high.

Are Vetches weeds?

Description. Common vetch (Vicia sativa) is a trailing winter annual weed that forms large mats of vegetation. It is common to waste areas and roadsides.

What is crown vetch good for?

Habitat: Crown vetch has been grown extensively in the northern two-thirds of the United States for temporary ground cover, erosion control, and as a green fertilizer crop. It is also used as a bank stabilizer along roads and waterways.

Can you eat vetches?

Vetch is a pretty good potherb, if you go for the younger leaves. It has a mild, grassy flavor that’s a lot like spinach, collards, or turnips. The unique seed pods are edible when they’re young – get them in early summer when they first come out, before they get too tough and stringy.

Where did vetch come from?

Vicia cracca (tufted vetch, cow vetch, bird vetch, blue vetch, boreal vetch), is a species of vetch native to Europe and Asia. It occurs on other continents as an introduced species, including North America, where it is a common weed. It often occurs in disturbed habitats, including old fields and roadside ditches.

Is vetch toxic to horses?

Hairy Vetch It is most often grown for soil improvement, roadside, or bank stabilization. It can also be grown as a pasture or hay crop but it can be toxic to horses, especially on high selenium soil.

Is vetch safe for horses to eat?

When the horse consumes, or even just chews the vetch, digestive enzymes transform the cyanogenic glycosides into cyanide. The potential for cyanide poisoning is low, as long as the plant is consumed in small amounts, and the horse is an overall healthy adult.

Is crown vetch good for wildlife?

Wildlife Habitat: Crownvetch provides excellent escape cover and nesting for rabbits and quail, and an excellent food source for deer, turkey and rabbits during its young and tender growth stages. Seed Production: Seed is difficult to harvest because seeds mature at different times.

Is vetch an invasive plant?

Cow vetch and hairy vetch are invasive species. Cow vetch and hairy vetch spread over other vegetation, smothering it. These plants usually don’t cause problems in healthy native prairies.

Is vetch good for horses?

In drought conditions, it is easy to provide the horse with sufficient energy, protein and other nutrients without satisfying the dry matter component. It is often easier to source good quality hay such as legume hay (lucerne, clover or vetch) which is relatively nutrient dense.

Where does vetch come from?

Vicia sativa, known as the common vetch, garden vetch, tare or simply vetch, is a nitrogen-fixing leguminous plant in the family Fabaceae. It is likely native to North Africa, Western Asia and Europe, but is now naturalized in temperate and subtropical regions worldwide.

Are Vetches edible?

Is Common Vetch toxic?

Vetch seeds are poisonous; they contain cyanogenic glycosides and a diglucoside that can cause a neurologic disease. Although hairy vetch (V. villosa) and purple vetch (V. benghalensis) seed are the most toxic (being very closely related), other vetches have toxic seeds too, including common vetch (V.

Are all Vetches edible?

Of these species, the bitter vetch, was one of the first domesticated crops grown by neolithic people. There are many different vetch species, the purple flowered varieties are all safe to eat, see Hedgerow Confusion below.