''Securigera varia'' (

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

''Coronilla varia''), commonly known as crownvetch or purple crown vetch, is a low-growing

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

vine. It is native to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and is commonly used throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

for

erosion control Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development, coastal areas, river banks and construction. Effective erosion controls handle surface runoff and are important techniques in ...

, roadside planting and

soil rehabilitation Soil regeneration, as a particular form of ecological regeneration within the field of restoration ecology, is creating new soil and rejuvenating soil health by: minimizing the loss of topsoil, retaining more carbon than is depleted, boosting biodi ...

. It has become an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in many states of the US. Crownvetch grows 1 to 2 feet tall and bears small clusters of 1/2-inch pink and white

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s from early summer to late fall. The variety Penngift produces mounds of pink flowers. Crownvetch is a tough, aggressive spreading plant that will crowd out its neighbors in a show garden but is well suited to a sunny bank, where it will grow for decades with little to no fertilizing, mowing, or weeding since the thick foliage prevents weeds from growing amid it. Its deep, tenacious, complex root systemGustine, D. L., & Moyer, B. G. (1990). Crownvetch (Coronilla varia L.). In Legumes and Oilseed Crops I (pp. 341-354). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. and thick, fern-like leaves provide excellent

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

control where it is used as a ground cover. However, this legume has a very long

germination period Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fern ...

of about 6 months and does not create full coverage until two or three years later.

Forage

Crownvetch is toxic to

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s and other non- ruminants because of the presence of nitroglycosides. If consumed in large amounts, it can cause slow growth,

paralysis Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

, or even death. However, this is not true for ruminant animals such as cattle, goats, and sheep. These aliphatic nitro compounds are degraded in ruminant digestion and do not affect the animals. Crownvetch was originally labeled as a poor forage for farm animals but more recently it has been deemed as a good forage when fed as hay to or grazed by ruminants. It consists of 21.7% crude protein and 22.2% crude fibre. In an experiment involving the digestibility of crownvetch in sheep, it was found that the crude protein is 65.6% and the crude fibre is 46.2% digestible which is similar, but slightly less than the digestibility of alfalfa forage.Reynolds PJ, Jackson C, Lindahl IL, Henson PR. 1967. Consumption and Digestibility of Crownvetch (Coronilla varia L.) Forage by Sheep. Agronomy Journal, 59, p 589-591. Retrieved from https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/59/6/AJ0590060589 As previously mentioned, this only applies to ruminant animals as it is toxic to non-ruminants. Crownvetch has been identified as an invasive in several midwestern states. It is very hard to eradicate once established. It is also a common host-plant for the moth ''

Zygaena ephialtes ''Zygaena ephialtes'' is day-flying species of burnet moth found in Europe. It is typically found in xeric habitats, and populations have recently decreased. It also exhibits Müllerian mimicry with other species, like '' Amata phegea''. Descri ...

.''

References

External links

Bibliography
*Purdue Universit

{{Taxonbar, from=Q158908 varia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus