On winged stems which can reach over 2 metres, this perennial bears its strikingly beautiful long-stalked magenta pea-flowers (20-30 mm) in loose spikes which gradually open up, starting with the lower blooms. Occasionally, one can come across a plant carrying pale pink or creamy white flowers. The plant weaves and climbs by means of clinging tendrils – which are modified leaves - at the end of its stems, and its large, elliptical, veined, blue-green leaves come as one pair. This plant blooms from July to September, with long brown seedpods following. It is usually found in hedgerows, on waste ground and railway banks. It is not a native plant but a garden escape and it belongs to the Fabaceae family.
I found and photographed this plant in 2009 on the North Bull Island in Co Dublin.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
