Hairy

Hairy Tare (Vicia hirsuta)

After six years, we're finally starting to see the beginnings of a real wildflower grassland on one edge of our pocket meadow; prior to this year, it was mostly rank grass. But now, a tangle of Common Vetch, Cowslips, Perforate Saint-John's-wort, Common and Greater knapweeds, Fiddledock and Bird's-foot-trefoil is spreading through the grasses on one side of our pond, and the other day, we found a few Hairy Tare (Vicia hirsuta) plants in their midst. These were twining their way up grass stems, their little purplish-white flowers eye-catching among the green. As you may be able to tell from the picture above, Hairy Tare is a legume – a member of the pea family. The "hairy" in its common name is a nod to the downy hairs that cover its seed pods. These help to distinguish it from Smooth and Slender tares, both of which have hairless pods. Hairy Tare is an annual, germinating in the autumn and flowering (and fruiting) from May to August of the following year. Native to Europe and western Asia, it has been deliberately introduced elsewhere, primarily as a cover crop or green manure. It's common in rough grassland, dry grassy areas and roadside verges throughout most of Britain, though missing from the northernmost reaches of Scotland. Hopefully, it will successfully set seed and continue in our pocket meadow!