Spring vetch
Lathyrus vernus (L.) Bernh.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 30 cm
- wide
- 30 cm
Fabaceae
Also called Spring Pea, Spring pea, Spring vetchling, Spring-vetch
Formerly Lathyrus flaccidus, Lathyrus gaudinii, Menkenia verna, Orobus angustistipulatus, and 6 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- PerennialKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Europe to Siberia and IranKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from RHS, one source
- Height
- 20 cm to 41 cmRead from RHS and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS 0.1–0.5 m; Wikipedia 20–40 cm
- Spread
- 10 cm to 51 cmRead from RHS, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from RHS, one source
- Flowers
- Purple, blueRead from RHS and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Coldest it survives
- -20 °C (USDA zone 6b)Read from RHS, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- German
- Frühlings-Platterbse, Zarte Platterbse, Frühlingsplatterbse
- Finnish
- kevätlinnunherne, Keväinen linnunherne
- Russian
- Чина весенняя, Сочевичник, Сочевичник весенний
- French
- Gesse printanière, Orobe printanier, Gesse flasque
- Czech
- hrachor jarní, hrachor, hrachor lecha
- Danish
- Vår-fladbælg, Vår-Fladbælg
- Estonian
- kevadine seahernes, kevadine kurelääts, Kevadine kurelääts
- Polish
- groszek wiosenny, Groszek wiosenny
- Norwegian Bokmål
- vårerteknapp, Vårerteknapp
- Swedish
- vårärt, Gökeböxer, Gökemat
- Lithuanian
- Pavasarinis pelėžirnis
- Hungarian
- Tavaszi lednek
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, Public domain
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- 3D model: Lathyrus vernus (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.