Vicia cracca
 
Tufted Vetch

Inflorescence, Side B

Hudson Bay Trout Pond, 1.5 Miles East of Hudson Bay
27-July-2017

The flowers are usually purple, but very occasionally they can be white as in this specimen.

Cracca:  Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora, Flora of Alberta, and Flora of the Great Plains leading to this species.

plants perennial; NOT [plants annual]

glabrous or sparsely appressed pubescent; NOT [villous with more or less long-spreading pubescence]

flowers many in a raceme; NOT [flowers 1 or 2 (seldom 4) in the upper leaf axils]

raceme more or less one-sided

raceme with 10-40 flowers; NOT [raceme with 2-9 flowers]

raceme dense; NOT [raceme loose]

pedicel appearing basal or from one side at base; NOT [pedicel appearing ventral]

calyx slightly gibbous; NOT [calyx conspicuously gibbous at base]

 

Vicia: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus.

herbs; NOT shrubs

plants climbing

terminal leaflet replaced by a tendril; NOT [terminal leaflet normal]

wings of flower coherent with the keel ; NOT [wings of flower free from the keel]

style filiform; NOT flattened

style bearded at the tip ; NOT [style bearded along the inside]

 

Leguminosae:  Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this family.  

herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

plants terrestrial or semi-aquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]

plants NOT with colored milky juice

plants with more than one normal leaf

some or all leaves alternate; NOT [leaves opposite, whorled, or basal]

leaves with stipules

calyx regular

flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others

flowers irregular in shape

corolla pea-like; NOT [corolla with one petal spurred or sac-like]

stamens usually separate or partly so; NOT [stamens united into a column]

fruit a legume; NOT [fruit a 3-valved capsule]