BLUE AND PURPLE FLOWERS 
Blue Vetch (Vicia Cracca). Pulse family. 
June to August 
A spreading perennial with finely hairy stem two to four feet 
long, climbing by tendrils. The flowers in long, many-flowered, 
spike-like racemes, rise from the axils. Leaflets eighteen to 
twenty-four, narrowly oblong, with sharp points (mucrons). 
This vetch is common on the border of thickets, and by the 
roadside. 
Vetch {Vicia sativa). Pulse family. July, August. 
An annual, climbing by tendrils. Flowers " purplish or 
pinkish " (Dana), " light violet, the upper petal Hned with 
deeper violet " (Mathews), mostly two in axils, generally with- 
out stalks, large. Leaflets ten to fourteen, inversely egg-shaped 
to linear, notched, stipules narrow. Fields. 
It is easy to confuse Vicia Cracca, Vicia sativa, and Lathyrus 
palustris. Vicia Cracca has more leaflets than either of the 
others, sometimes more than both together; moreover, its 
flowers are numerous and in long racemes. Of the other two 
plants, Vicia sativa has ten leaflets or over and generally only 
two flowers together, while Lathyrus palustris has less than ten 
leaflets but generally more than two flowers together. More- 
over, the flowers of Lathyrus palustris have stalks, while those 
of Vicia sativa generally have none. 
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