Photographs: Co.Cork

Common Vetch Vicia sativa ssp. segetalis Peasair chapaill Family: Fabaceae Flowering time: April-September. Annual. Introduced. Flowers usually pink-purple or bi-coloured. Solitary or pairs in leaf-axils. Ripe fruit brownish-black, smooth, usually hairless. Upper leaflets little narrower than lower. Tendrils usually branched. Straggling ridged stems. Very variable. Disturbed ground, roadsides, waste ground. Mainly found in S and E Ireland. Not separately recorded until 1991, but the most frequent subspecies.   V. sativa ssp. nigra and   V. sativa ssp. sativa are both rare. Identified by Paul Green.

    
Common Vetch. Blue form: Sherkin Island, Co.Cork. Aug 2007. White form: Inchidoney Beach, Co.Cork. May 2008