Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: Europe, Asia, Africa
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

Crown vetch sprawls across roadsides and disturbed ground in dense mats, its pink-to-purple flowers arranged in neat crown-shaped clusters atop long stems. Like other legumes it fixes atmospheric nitrogen through root bacteria, letting it colonize poor soils where most other plants struggle.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Securigera
Species: Securigera varia