Crown-Vetch       (Axseed)

Securigera varia  (also Coronilla varia)

The vine-like stems of this plant produce profuse quantities of compound leaves, each consisting of a stalk with up to a dozen pairs of oval leaflets on opposite sides; each leaflet is smooth-edged and up to about 1 inch in length. From leaf axils rise stalks (up to a foot long) supporting a tight umbel of up to two dozen pink or pink-and- white lowers, each about 1/2 inch long, in a circular array (the 'crown').

An Old World alien, this plant produces when establihed a thick mat of foliage that suppreses other species and is difficult to eradicate.  Once commonly used by highway departments as a ground cover to control erosion, it has spread widely and is now listed as an invasive species by several states in the Midwest and elsewhere.

Creeper; usually under 3 feet; sun-partial sun.  

Summer (June-August).

25 June 2020.

Crown-Vetch, 20 June 2020.