Vicia tetrasperma is an annual vining herb, slender, stems to 60 cm, branching, matted or climbing.
Leaves alternate, even-pinnate, tendril replacing terminal leaflet, leaflets 2-5 pairs, narrow, to 2 cm long, tips rounded with a tiny point.
Flowers pale purple, to 0.7 cm long, pea-flower-shaped, calyx teeth unequal, 1-2 together on thin stalk to 3 cm long, May-Sept.
Fruit a pod to 1.3 cm long, flat, blunt at both ends, seeds 3-5, to 0.2 cm. Wetland status: UPL.
Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent.
Origin: Eurasia. Habitat: Open areas.
Notes: Poisonous. Attacked by the moth Coleophora fuscicornis, and nematodes of the genus Poratylenchus (Aarssen et al. 1986).