Securigera varia Crown Vetch

A perennial legume with pinnate leaves and a sprawling growth habit. It has been grown as a cottage garden plant since the 16th Century and it was first recorded wild in Britain in 1849 in Shropshire. It usually becomes naturalised as a garden escape but it may also spread as a seed contaminant. It grows in grassy banks, roadside verges and waste places, most commonly in urban areas and produces attractive, globular heads of pale pink flowers in early summer. Once established it can persist for many years. It has been recorded in only a few sites in West Glamorgan. The shoots of Crown Vetch contain significant amounts of the nitroaliphatic toxin, 3-nitropropanol, which is an inhibitor of mitochondrial metabolism and aerobic respiration. It is toxic to humans and it is particularly toxic to non-ruminant grazers, e.g horses.

Neophyte