Bill's Botanical Forays

 

Today, as I was driving along Wildlife Loop near the Duvall Cemetery, I spotted a single plant of something growing on the shoulder of the road. I stopped the car to take a closer examination.

 

 

To my surprise, it was a legume of some sort. It had an odd number of leaflets (9 to 13) with a terminal tendril; that should narrow things down a bit. The flowers were cream colored with some purplish streaking.

 

This ended up being identified as Large-flowered vetch (Vicia grandiflora Scop.) It is a native of Eurasia and has become naturalized in other parts of the world including here in Maryland.