Common Name: Crown Vetch, Purple Crown Vetch, Axseed

Scientific Name: Securigera varia

Family: Fabaceae

Origins: Africa, Asia and Europe

Flowering Time: June to August

Habitat: Waste place, roadsides and fields

Range: Found throughout most of North Amercia, except the far north.

Use: Host-plant for the Zygaena ephialtes  moth. Can be used as forage in the form of hay or if grazed by ruminants (cows, goats and sheep). Toxic to horses and other non-ruminants. Adds nitrogen to the soil.

Sources:

“Habitat requirements of conspicuous burnet moth Zygaena ephialtes (Linnaeus, 1767; Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae) (PDF Download Available)”. ResearchGate. Retrieved 8 March 2018.

Niering, William A., Nancy C. Olmstead, and John W. Thieret. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. Print.

“Securigera varia“. Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 8 March 2018.