Lathyrus pratensis L.
Common Vetchling
Meadow vetchling is a native British perennial of the pea family, easily known by its bright yellow pea-flowers carried in small clusters on slender stalks. It is a scrambler rather than an upright plant, hauling itself through surrounding vegetation with branched tendrils at the tips of its narrow, paired leaflets, and it can reach over a metre when well supported.
About
Meadow vetchling is a native British perennial of the pea family, easily known by its bright yellow pea-flowers carried in small clusters on slender stalks. It is a scrambler rather than an upright plant, hauling itself through surrounding vegetation with branched tendrils at the tips of its narrow, paired leaflets, and it can reach over a metre when well supported. Like its relatives it fixes nitrogen at the roots, helping to enrich the soils it colonises.
It is a familiar plant of unimproved grassland, hay meadows, rough banks, hedge bottoms and roadside verges, thriving on moist neutral to calcareous soils in full sun or light shade. Flowering runs through the summer, roughly from late spring into late summer, and the blooms are worked by bumblebees and other long-tongued bees, while the foliage is a food plant for several moths and butterflies. Its rambling habit and long season make it a useful component of taller meadow and grassland seed mixes.
Also known as
Meadow Pea · Meadow Peavine · Meadow Vetchling · Yellow Vetchling · meadow-pea
Synonyms
Lathyrus cashmericus · Lathyrus denudatus · Lathyrus lusseri · Lathyrus pratensis grandiflorus · Lathyrus pratensis hallersteinii · Lathyrus pratensis lusseri · Lathyrus pratensis pallidiflorus · Lathyrus pratensis sepium · Lathyrus pratensis velutinus
In our seed mixes
- BFS 1 – Traditional Hay Meadow Wildflower Mix
- BFS 13 – Tussocky Grassland Wildflower Meadow Mix
- BFS 3 – Floodplain Meadow Grassland Seed Mix
- BFS 8 – High Nutrient Initial Establishment Wildflower Grassland Mix – 50% Flora
- BFS1(F) – Traditional Hay Meadow 100% Wildflower
- BFS13(F) – Tussocky Grassland 100% Wildflower Meadow Mix
- BFS3(F)-Floodplain 100% Meadow Grassland Mix
- BFS8(F) – High Nutrient Initial Establishment 100% Wildflower Mix
Beta — under active development. This catalogue is still being built and accuracy-checked. The information here (including plant identifications, British native status, soil and sun/shade preferences) is provided in good faith for general guidance only and may contain errors or omissions. It must not be relied upon on its own — please confirm details with us before making planting, specification, foraging or purchasing decisions, and never eat or medicinally use any plant based on this catalogue alone, as some species are toxic. To the extent permitted by law, Phoenix Amenity Supplies accepts no liability for any loss arising from use of this information.