Vine · Fabaceae
American vetch
Vicia americana · includes its varieties and subspecies
American vetch is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 834 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
American vetch at a glance
- Native in
- 834 counties, across 29 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 1.3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
American vetch is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 834 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 834 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 2 counties
- Arizona 8 counties
- California 50 counties
- Colorado 46 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Idaho 25 counties
- Illinois 19 counties
- Indiana 11 counties
- Iowa 17 counties
- Kansas 52 counties
- Michigan 37 counties
- Minnesota 86 counties
- Missouri 9 counties
- Montana 54 counties
- Nebraska 44 counties
- Nevada 14 counties
- New Mexico 26 counties
- New York 13 counties
- North Dakota 44 counties
- Ohio 9 counties
- Oklahoma 15 counties
- Oregon 36 counties
- Pennsylvania 24 counties
- South Dakota 33 counties
- Texas 8 counties
- Utah 29 counties
- Washington 33 counties
- Wisconsin 67 counties
- Wyoming 22 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb, Vine
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1.3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Decumbent
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 9 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5.9 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Purple
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- Low
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Fabaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- VIAM
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Vicia americana (PLANTS symbol VIAM), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources