The tutor shares another yard find.

A couple years back I was weeding the front chip patch. Sometimes I have to do so; it’s not my idea. However, it clears the ground for fresh plants to emerge.

Anyway, I noticed a spindly plant with pinnate leaves. There were several of them, all less than 50 cm long and climbing among other plants. I was without a clue what they were, having never noticed anything like them. Though distinct upon examination, their tendency to intertwine with upright plants makes them easy to miss.

The unknown plants with pinnate leaves turn out to be American vetch. They have blue-purple flowers, rather flat in one plane, but obovate in another. They are of the pea family; the flowers are similar.

The guide says American vetch is perennial; the ones in my yard return each year.

I’ll be sharing more yard finds of native plants:)

Source:

Pojar, Jim and Andy MacKinnon. Plants of Coastal British Columbia. Vancouver:
  BC Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, 1994.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.