Sainfoin - Onobrychis viciifolia

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Sainfoin - Onobrychis viciifolia
© Dr Chris Gibson/English Nature

The beautiful and bright pink flowers of sainfoin, with their red veins, can be spotted from a distance. They are held in dense, conical terminal spikes well above the leaves.

This is a medium-sized erect plant with pinnate leaves. It produces fruits in short, flattened pods that have a rough, strongly veined surface. Sainfoin, in its native form, is an inhabitant of dry chalky grasslands, but a more robust form was introduced to England from southern Europe in the seventeenth century and grown as a forage crop. It has since been widely sown on motorway embankments. From those two sources, the descendants of these plants have since colonised many roadside verges and waste ground. Available from specialist nurseries, this plant will make a lovely addition to a wildflower meadow, where they will be an attraction for bees.

Animals

Buff-tailed bumble bee, Common carder bumble bee, Honey bee, Red mason bee, Red-tailed bumble bee, White-tailed bumble bee, Wool-carder bee

Foliage	Green
Flower	Pink, May to August
Moisture	(Dry)
Sunlight	(Full sun)
Origin	Native