Participant Info

Species

Vicia americana

Family

Fabaceae

CommonName

American vetch

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1890

LatestDate

2020

Ecosystem

foothill, montane, subalpine, ruderal, urban

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos, UBasin, LBasin

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, Archuleta

Passes

Cumbres, La Manga, La Veta

WildlifePreserves

Big Meadows Reservoir, Great Sand Dunes

Other Localities

Alamosa (town), La Botica, Del Norte

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell Mineral Co, beside Hwy 160, 10 road miles SW of South Fork 10 June 2020

Comments

In the Watershed American vetch is common in mesic habitats, often ruderal—street sides, irrigation embankments, lake outlets, river sides, cut forest understory, etc. Typically this native—which acts so much like an exotic—is a lower elevation plant, on both sides of the Valley. Well named, it is present in all states of the USA, except the Deep South. It is present in the Rio Grande drainage through New Mexico down to Presidio Co, Texas (just W of the Big Bend country).

Annotation