Vicia cracca, SE: Kråkvicker, DE: Vogel-Wicke,
NL: Vogelwikke, UK: Tufted Vetch

Scientific name:  Vicia cracca L.
Swedish name:  Kråkvicker
German name:  Vogel-Wicke
Nederlandse naam:  Vogelwikke
English name:  Tufted Vetch, Cow Vetch, Bird Vetch
Family:  Fabaceae, Ärtväxter

Vilda blommor i Sverige - Sweden wild flowers, Hammarstrand Ragunda Jamtland
Date Picture Taken: July 18, 2008

Life form:  Perennial climbing vine
Stems:  Limp, climbing, branched, bristly, glabrous–short-haired
Leaves:  5 to 12 pairs of opposite leaflets with an apical tendril. Apex of each leaflet pointed
Flowers:  Purple, violet flowers in long racemes
Flowering Period:  June, July, August
Fruits:  10–25 mm long, flattish, glabrous, brown, 1-parted, 4–8-seeded legume
Habitat:  Forests, thickets, coast, pastureland, meadows, farmland, settlements

Vicia cracca, Kråkvicker,Vogel-Wicke,Vogelwikke, Tufted Vetch
Date Picture Taken: July 13, 2008


Derivation of the botanical name:
Vicia the classical Latin name for vetch.
cracca Latin name applied by Rivinius to this plant, the Italian name Cracca and French name Vesce craque.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

Vicia cracca, Kråkvicker,Vogel-Wicke,Vogelwikke, Tufted Vetch
Date Picture Taken: June 23, 2010