Louisiana vetch

Vicia ludoviciana, the Louisiana or slender vetch, is a small annual climbing herb of the legume family (Fabaceae), with slender, weakly four-angled stems that scramble or climb to 30–80 cm by means of branched terminal tendrils. The pinnately compound leaves bear several pairs of small, narrowly oblong to linear leaflets and terminate in a tendril. Few-flowered axillary racemes carry small pale blue to lavender pea-like flowers about 5–8 mm long, the standard slightly notched. The fruit is a flattened, glabrous legume containing several small dark seeds. The species is native to the southern and south-central United States and adjacent Mexico, occupying sandy or loamy soils in prairies, open woodlands, fields, and roadsides. Three varieties are currently recognised, separated chiefly by leaflet shape and pubescence. NatureServe lists the species as Secure.