_Vicia Cracca_
_Flowers_--Blue, later purple; 1/2 in. long, growing downward in 1-sided
spike, 15 to 40 flowered; calyx oblique, small, with unequal teeth;
corolla butterfly-shaped, consisting of standard, wings, and keel, all
oblong; the first clawed, the second oblique, and adhering to the
shorter keel; 10 stamens, 1 detached from other 9. _Stem:_ Slender,
weak, climbing or trailing, downy, 2 to 4 ft. long. _Leaves:_ Tendril
bearing, divided into 18 to 24 thin, narrow, oblong leaflets. _Fruit:_ A
smooth pod 1 in. long or less, 5 to 8 seeded.
_Preferred Habitat_--Dry soil, fields, waste land.
_Flowering Season_--June-August.
_Distribution_--United States from New Jersey, Kentucky, and Iowa
northward and northwestward. Europe and Asia.
Dry fields blued with the bright blossoms of the Tufted Vetch, and
roadsides and thickets where the angular vine sends forth vivid patches
of color, resound with the music of happy bees. Although the parts of
the flower fit closely together, they are elastic, and opening with the
energetic visitor’s weight and movement give ready access to the
nectary. On his departure they resume their original position, to
protect both nectar and pollen from rain and pilferers whose bodies are
not perfectly adapted to further the flower’s cross-fertilization. The
common bumblebee (_Bombus terrestris_) plays a mean trick, all too
frequently, when he bites a hole at the base of the blossom, not only
gaining easy access to the sweets for himself, but opening the way for
others less intelligent than he, but quite ready to profit by his
mischief, and so defeat nature’s plan. Doctor Ogle observed that the
same bee always acts in the same manner, one sucking the nectar
legitimately, another always biting a hole to obtain it surreptitiously,
the natural inference, of course, being that some bees, like small boys,
are naturally depraved.