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§1 Plant — species · Fabaceae

Vicia villosa Roth

vernacular winter vetch

USDA
VIVI
GBIF
9182154
Rank
species
winter vetch (Vicia villosa)
Platephotograph · Ivan JarolímekCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb, Vine
Duration
Annual, Biennial, Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus
Vicia
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Introduced
  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • HI Hawaii Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
High
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
None
Salinity
Low
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-30 °F minimum
Frost-free days
100 min.
Precipitation
18–65 in/yr
pH range
6–7.5
Root depth
6 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Crown
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
1.5 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Porous
Porosity (winter)
Dense
Flower colour
Purple
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
Yes
N fixation
Medium
Toxicity
Slight
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Early Spring
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
16,320
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
High
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
High
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Montana distribution

Recorded in 9 of 56 Montana counties.

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/VIVI ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/9182154 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z