June 11: Crown Vetch -- A plant with imperial designs

Similar to Dames Rocket, here's another beautiful non-native plant which has quickly spread. It's Crown Vetch.

Crown Vetch

Crown Vetch is a relative newcomer to America -- it was brought here from Europe in the 1950s. It is used to prevent soil erosion and you can sometimes see it along the highway and in medians, which adds greatly to the beauty of the landscape. But it tends to crowd out other plants. Here's what it can look like when it gets going.

Field of Crown Vetch

Deer, elk, and rabbits like to eat it, but it is toxic to some other animals, especially horses. It's not good for humans either. One website claims it's toxic to sheep and cows, but agricultural papers suggest using it as a non-bloating legume for livestock, though sheep and cows eat it only parts of it and don't like mature crownvetch.