Carolina Geraniums and Cow and Hairy Vetches May 15
In mid-May my Greenway path was lined with patches of showy blue-purple flowers growing on delicate vines that looked a lot like tiny pea plants. I took several photos of these plants, because their color was a striking break from the green of the grasses. But among these plants was one very different. Also with delicate leaves, it was topped with a few flowers of red petals that looked like they had seen better days. This plant only merited one photo because the flowers were pretty sparse and on this website I want to concentrate on identifying and painting wildflowers that we normally see. But when I got home and researched this flower, I discovered that it was the Carolina Geranium! Scientific name, Geranium carolinianum! I immediately became intrigued. I continued on with my research vowing that I’d go back to that Greenway path soon to search for and photograph more of these plants. Ever the optimist, I thought, that given some time, more flowers, or more plants would emerge as the season progressed. Unfortunately, this was not the case. By the time I returned to the trail, almost two weeks had elapsed, and someone in the county had decided to mow deep into the side of its edges, slicing off at least 10 feet of wild plant life and obliterating the area where the plant had been. The blue-purple plants were still doing quite well, but the little Carolina Geranium was nowhere to be found.
I identified the blue-purple flowers as being Cow Vetch or Hairy Vetch plants with the scientific names of Vicia cracca and Vicia herbaceous. These plants are native to Europe and Asia but were brought to America by European settlers in the 1700s as silage and as cover crops to enrich and protect farmers’ fields. Just like clover, these Vetches have nitrogen-fixing abilities, but unlike clover these plants release the nitrogen immediately after being mowed and turned back into the soil which helps to fertilize it. Like Clover, these plants escaped the fields and are now invasive. Cow Vetch and Hairy Vetch have deep tap roots, but also spread through rhizomes. They are great climbers and can grow so thick that they spread over other vegetation and smother it, which is another thing that might have happened to the Carolina Geranium plant.
Carolina Geraniums are pubescent annual or biennial plants. Their delicate flowers grow on the tips of the stalks. Blossoms are pale pink or white, and have five petals in loose terminal clusters, but my photo proves that the petals I saw were red. The stems of the plant range in color from red to green. These Geraniums need partial shade, and gravelly to clay soils. Carolina Geraniums have a fibrous root system with a shallow taproot. The maximum height of the plant is around 12 inches tall. The plant propagates from seeds which fall from the plant when they are ripe. But seeds are also commercially available. The seeds of the plant have a distinctive elongated shape that look like the beak of a crane. Because of this, some people call this plant the “Carolina Cranesbill”. This little geranium can sometimes be found growing in lawns and in landscape beds where it is considered a weed. It also grows on roadsides that have minimal maintenance. Growing in untended areas, it is not in competition with agricultural crops or ornamental plants. Because it’s able to grow on poor dry soil, the plant does well in abandoned fields and farmland, but doesn’t tolerate competition from other more aggressive plants.
There are some 800 species of Geraniums in the world. Eleven of the genera are found in the North Temperate zone. Geranium blooms are either white, pink or red, and the plants flower from March to July. They’re found in all of the lower 48 states as well as in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. The Carolina Geranium is native to eastern states from New England and then south along the east coast. In the south it is found west to Texas and into central Mexico. The seeds of the plant have a hard coating that makes it impervious to a lot of herbicides so it’s considered a nuisance to some because it will spring up in places that have been sprayed for weeds. But the Carolina Geranium is an important native plant for our environment and wildlife. Insects, including long tongued bees, and other pollinators collect nectar from its early blooms. The seeds are eaten by Northern Bobwhite Quails, Morning Doves, and small mammals. In the winter, when other vegetation is scarce, the leaves are eaten by livestock, quail and turkeys. In fact, Carolina Geraniums are the preferred winter forage for white tailed deer in the Southeast because they’re so nutritious. In the vegetative state, the plant has 19% crude protein. But deer and livestock can overgraze this plant and prevent it from making seeds for the next year growth. Because of this, it is a protected plant in some counties in New York and New Hampshire where it is considered an endangered native species and has legally protective status.
Humans can eat all parts of the Carolina Geranium, but the plant is high in tannins, so it tastes a little bitter. The Carolina Geranium is also is valued for its medicinal properties. Native people used it as an herb but also used it to treat wounds, infections, sore throats, gastrointestinal problems and arthritis. Ethanol can be extracted from the plant which can be used to treat inflammation. In addition, it has natural astringent, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and antioxidant properties. It’s also high in vitamin K, so it’s helpful for eye conditions. This geranium can even fight hepatitis B because it has geraniin in it, which is a dehydro-ellagitanin known for its significant antioxidant activity. And if these uses aren’t enough to have us hold this plant in high esteem, the Carolina Geranium also contains ellagic acid and hyperin, making it even more important. Ellagic acid is a polyphenol which may decrease cancer cell growth, alleviate inflammation, and protect brain function. Hyperin is a flavonoid, another anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, cardioprotective and hepatoprotective bioactive compound!
Since it’s so beneficial, it’s a wonder why we don’t eat some Carolina Geranium every day. It should even be part of the food pyramid! But If you try to forage for this plant, or any other plants I mention on this website, be careful that you don’t collect ones that have been sprayed with dangerous herbicides or pesticides. One of my references below recommends that you grow all wild plants you intend to eat or use for teas in a pot in your own yard so you know they’re not contaminated. Carolina Geraniums grow easily from seeds, but need dry coarse soil, and a partially shaded spot. It wants to be left alone, and grows well where other plants won’t grow. On the Greenway, plants must compete for a spot to grow and thrive, and the lonely Carolina Geranium plant was in competition with numerous Hairy Vetch and Cow Vetch plants. These vigorous vines crowded it out and possibly smothered it. Then to make matters worse, whoever mowed the sides of the trail got overzealous and mowed it down, destroying its happy home!
By the third of June, the Vetch plants, were still going strong. Their blossoms are small, but numerous, and their lovely color adds much needed interest to the sides of the path which by then was overgrown with grasses that were already turning brown. The two varieties of Vicia plants growing on the Greenway are the Vicia cracca, otherwise known as the Cow Vetch, and Vicia herbaceous, known as the Hairy Vetch. Telling them apart is very difficult for me. Both are sprawling vines that terminate with two or more tendrils that wrap around anything handy for support. Both supposedly have 8 to 12 oval alternating leaflets on a leaf which resemble those of garden peas, and both have smooth stems that contain a stipule where it meets the leaf stalk. Supposedly the Cow Vetch has sparse short hairs on its stems while the Hairy vetch has long hairs on its stems. Next time I inspect these plants I’ll try to remember to bring a magnifying glass or maybe even a microscope to help me see the stem hairs. I am unable to see them with just my eyes, and even my camera couldn’t pick up any hairs on any stems. To me, the difference between the two plants is shown by the color of the blossoms of the two species. Hairy Vetch blossoms are a blue-purple in color, while the blossoms of the Cow Vetch are more of a purply-pink. Both of these plants are annuals, or short-lived perennials. They grow best in full sun. They prefer dry, sandy soils and they do well in disturbed areas. Both of these plants are legumes which just means that their flowers will produce pods. Each pod contains 6 to 8 small round seeds. The pods of the Cow Vetch plant are brownish in color and they’re flat. The pods of the Hairy Vetch plant are gray to black and, like the stems of the plant, are also hairy. Both plants are able to reseed themselves easily from their own seeds, and while they both have long taproots reaching 1 to 3 feet long, the Hairy Vetch can also spread through rhizomes.
The seeds of the Cow Vetch plant are good food for budgies, or budgerigars, the most popular pet birds in the world. They are also used in feed for other domesticated birds. Because of this, some people call the Cow Vetch plant the “Bird Vetch”. But while these Vetches are good for your pet bird, may resemble garden peas, and their pods might look like bean pods, they are not nutritious for, and should not be eaten by humans, (although if you’re starving and there’s nothing else to eat, you could try the young stems and leaves which are supposed to taste a lot like grass.) The dried leaves can also be used as a substitute for tea. This drink was once thought to help lactating mothers produce more milk but modern sources doubt that this was true and there are a lot of problems when animals consume these plants. For this reason, I’m warning you to leave them alone. The plants originally came from Europe and Asia and are found from the U.K. to Japan. They were brought to North America in the 1700s as forage for cattle but mainly as a nutritious ground cover for soil. They’re used in crop rotation. Just like the Clover plant, Vetches take nitrogen from the air and convert it into a usable form. But unlike Clover, they rapidly release this nitrogen into the soil when used as mulch, and this makes the soil more fertile for the next crop.
Hairy vetch is a winter hardy annual that supplies food for deer, turkey and other wildlife in late spring to early summer. Its seeds attract quail and turkey, but my sources contradict each other when it comes to using these Vetches as foraging for livestock. While one site says that the Common Vetch is a good source for calcium, boost the animal’s immune system and helps cows absorb protein, it also says that a diet of Vetch will eventually make the animal lose weight. As for Cow or Hairy Vetch, one source said that cows won’t graze on them until they are dry and their seeds have popped. The Cow Vetch and particularly the Hairy Vetch plants have a very bitter taste that is tolerated only by the hungriest of horses. While some Vetches might be more nutritious then alfalfa or straw, these two are definitely not. If horses regularly eat Hairy Vetch, they will eventually weaken and die. If they don’t die from malnutrition, eating the plants will lead to kidney failure. The mortality rate for affected animals is from 59% to 100%. The same might be true for cows.
These Vetches are mainly used to enrich and protect the soil. Think of them as green manure. As fast growing plants, they also have some use when protecting the soil from erosion, and their prolific flowers are food for beneficial insects like honey bees, mason bees and bumble bees. The flowers are also attractive to butterflies like the Baltimore Checkerspost, Clouded Skippers, Gray Hairstreak, Orange Sulfurs, and Eastern Tailed Blues.
Used in North America for hundreds of years, the Cow Vetch and the Hairy Vetch have escaped from farmers’ fields and are now growing in the wild. As an invasive species, they can grow in a thick mat and smother native and more beneficial plants like the Carolina Geranium.
Want to learn more? Check out these resources:
Carolina Geranium:
Ricky Linex, “Carolina geranium”, https://txmn.org/centraltexas/files/2020/06/Carolina-Geranium.pdf
The University of Texas, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Plant Database, “Geranium carolinianum” https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=geca5
Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home and Garden Information Center, “Carolina Geranium”, Aug 2021, https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/carolina-geranium/
Wikipedia, “Geranium carolinianum” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium_carolinianum
Darcy Larum, Gardening Know How, “What is Carolina Geranium – Tips on Growing Carolina Cranesbill” Jan 2021 https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/cranesbill-geranium/carolina-geranium-growing.htm
Cow and Hairy Vetch:
AgricSite.com “Can Cows Eat Vetch?” https://agricsite.com/can-cows-eat-vetch/
Pen State Extention, “Hairy Vetch as a Crop Cover”, Jan. 2010, https://extension.psu.edu/hairy-vetch-as-a-crop-cover
Pennington, “Hairy Vetch”, https://www.pennington.com/all-products/wildlife/hairy-vetch#:~:text=Hairy%20vetch%20is%20a%20widely,that%20attracts%20quail%20and%20turkey
Getchen Voyle, Michigan State University, “Cow Vetch pops up in gardens, but is it a friend or foe?” August 2016, https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/cow_vetch_pops_up_in_gardens_but_is_it_a_friend_or_foe
Angela Gupta, University of Minnesota Extension, “Cow vetch and hairy vetch” https://extension.umn.edu/identify-invasive-species/cow-vetch-and-hairy-vetch
Fall Wildflowers of New England, “Cow Vetch Vivia carcca F. Fabaceae” http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Wildflowers_Kimonis_Kramer/PAGES/COWVETCH_PAGE_FINAL.html
Plants for a Future Database, “Vivia Cracca – L. Tufted Vetch, Bird vetch Cow vetch” https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Vicia+cracca
MN department of Natural Resources, “Cow vetch and hairy vetch (Vicia cracca, Vicia villosa) https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialplants/herbaceous/cowvetch.html