94 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 
roadside, where it may charm the passer-by, but it is 
to be found in most hedges of a medium size in 
fields and on the outskirts of woods. It is not a 
lover of deep shade like some of the vetches and 
vetchlings, but luxuriates in the sunshine, adopting a 
hedgerow habitat to maintain itself, owing to its 
need of some support by which to climb. In such 
positions it finds its way up to the top of the hedge, 
and the purple flowers are massed in close clusters 
as a crown at the summit. It makes a pretty con- 
trast with its usual associates Red Campion, Bryony 
(white or black) brambles, Roses, the Hawthorn, and 
the tall welted thistle. 
The stem reaches a great height, and is angular 
and furrowed, downy, slender, branching. 
The leaves are pinnate, consisting of eight to 
twelve pairs of leaflets, which are oblong lanceolate, 
mucronate, with semi-sagittate, linear, subulate 
stipules. The leaves bear thread-like, long branched 
tendrils. 
The purple flowers are in secund racemes, 
numerous, alternate. The tubular calyx is gibbous 
below, the pedicels are long, the teeth of the calyx 
are unequal and not as long as the tube. The style 
is downy above, the hairs longer below the stigma. 
The stalked pod is short, with three black seeds 
and compressed. 
The violet tufted vetch grows to a height of six 
feet. June, July, August are the months in which 
to find it in flower. 
