Common vetch is a scrambling plant with long, twining stems that have curly tendrils on the ends. Its leaves are like folded ovals that sit opposite one another along the stems. Its flowers are pinky-purple and pea-like. Common vetch is able to make its own nitrates, a special nutrient essential for healthy plant growth. This makes it useful as a soil-fertilising plant and it is also often used as livestock fodder. It grows well on grassland, farmland, waste ground and roadside verges, as well as in coastal habitats, such as sand dunes. Groups of one or two pink flowers appear between May and September.