Kidney vetch
A yellow-headed legume of dry calcareous grassland; mainly serves bumblebees and wild bees, a moderate summer source for honey bees.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 0.1-0.5 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Kidney vetch is a short-lived perennial legume of dry calcareous, sandy and stony grassland, slopes and road embankments. Its yellow, sometimes orange-reddish flowers are gathered in heads within a woolly calyx. The flower tube is rather deep, so its best visitors are bumblebees; honey bees reach part of the nectar and collect pollen.
Flowering
It flowers over a long period from May to August, varying with altitude; in the uplands it lasts until midsummer.
Honey and pollen
There is no honey under its own name; it makes a small contribution to highland and wildflower honeys. Its pollen contribution is moderate.
Note for the beekeeper
It is a good component of flowering meadow mixtures and of bee pastures on poor, calcareous soils. In Europe it is also valuable for nature conservation as the food plant of some rare butterflies.