Horseshoe Vetch
Horseshoe Vetch
Wildflower
A low golden pea-flower of chalk downland — named for its horseshoe-shaped seed pods and the sole foodplant of the rare Adonis blue and chalkhill blue butterflies.
💡 Fun Facts
- Its seed pods break into little curved pieces, each shaped like a tiny horseshoe.
- It grows only on chalk and limestone grassland in the warm south of Britain.
- It is the one and only plant that Adonis blue and chalkhill blue caterpillars will eat.
📅 Through the Year
- Flowering:May to July
Name Story
Hippocrepis comosa
means “the tufted horseshoe”
What does its name mean?
- Hippocrepis — horseshoeGreek hippos ‘horse’ + krepis ‘shoe’
- comosa — tuftedLatin coma ‘tuft’
Its seed-pods curl into neat little horseshoe shapes, and its sunny yellow flowers gather in a tuft at the top of the stem — both halves of the name, hiding in plain sight.