Common kidney vetch

Short Description

The common kidney vetch can grow to a height of 50 cm.

The leaves grow alternately. One leaf consists of several leaflets with a terminal leaflet at the tip (unequally pinnate). The number of leaflets can range from two to seven. The terminal leaflet is always the longest. The leaves are narrow-elliptical with a smooth margin.

The stem is upward to erect, partially subterranean and forms a deep root system.

The flowers are clustered in great numbers in spherical flower heads. The individual florets are brilliantly yellow to orange, each with its own hairy calyx. Each flower has only a single mirror axis (mirror-symmetric). It consists of five petals. The large upper petal protrudes upwards. The two lower petals form a hollow boat that surrounds the anthers and pistil.

The fruit is a small singe-seed pod that remains in the calyx until ripe.

In the city

The common kidney vetch naturally grows in coastal dunes and Alpine meadows. As a pioneer plant, it often colonises new areas still free from plants. Building sites that are more common in towns together with stony embankments, railway lands and sandpits provide the plant with substitute habitats. It prefers moderately dry and sunny sites with humus-rich loamy or loess soil.

It grows deep roots, thus preventing land from sliding. For that reason, it is often planted on embankments.