You're in Pennsylvania? Hope it's not Kudzu. Do any of the leaves have 'thumbs?' Some maps include PA as having it, some don't, or only do partially. I saw some by the Ohio river in KY in June.

Hi purple and messy. If it is the same weed I have here in Cen. PA, good luck. Look for Hog Peanut to see if that is your plant.

The plant is a native wildflower and makes purple flowers similar to a Vetch if it is the same vine I have. The vines grow about 5 ft tall and have zillions (I have counted them) of sprouts. My experience is that they consume the whole areas to the point they are a solid mass that collapses under its own weight.

The good news is that the seeds are edible. Not the ones from the blueish flowers, but the ones that grow along the ground (hence the name). The ones from the blue flowers are hard and small. The ones found at the ground in the fall are like split peas in taste. The bad news is that if you eat every seed and they each have one calorie, you will weigh 600 lbs. eliminating them from your property.

This post was edited by Dzitmoidonc on Fri, Aug 9, 13 at 1:32

That looks a bit like Nightshade, an invasive viney plant in the same family as tomatoes and potatoes.
Eliminating Nightshade can be tough since every bit of root and stem must be removed.

Messy, have you been able to decide from these suggestions? If not, feel free to add another pic, or more, so folks can get a better look at it, and what it's doing. You can add one per post using the "browse" thing.

It also looks like some kind of "beans," there are so many of those.

Purple, there is no doubt it is Hog Peanut. I have it in spades. Will post a pic tomorrow.

Thanks, but my curiosity isn't that much, please don't go to the trouble for me. I don't really want to learn more weedy vines, you're probably right about it. Just wondering if Messy still had questions, and might give us a sense of closure. Sorry, all of this rain is making me crazy and bored.

Rain you too, uh? Thurs. was 3.5 inches. Fri. was 1.5 inches. Sat. was intermittent light showers. About 8 inches of rain so far in August, which is supposedly our driest month.

Today is cloudy, 91F, 50% relative humidity. Sometimes I think we live in Alabama!

Oh brother, yeah, that sounds similar, sorry! Very sticky, steamy, uncomfortable, feels frozen in time some days, the air doesn't move. Still prefer it over winter though.

Here's the vine, Hog Peanuts. Latin name starts with A, can't remember it, too lazy to Google.

I like all the seasons, including winter here in PA. I grew up in extreme northern ME, at the end (or beginning) of US RTE 1, so winters here are very mild by comparison.

While I was taking pics, I took this of a Yellow Swallowtail on Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium, used to be Eupatorium ).

Also took this of Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis). I have a place in the lower field that I let grow into weeds. Lots of Monkey Flower (Mimulus ringens), and some of these.

That looks like it to me. Amphicarpaea bracteata, a native legume. No wonder it looks like beans. FLowers and butterfly are pretty!! That vine isn't unattractive either, but looks like a big 'un.

Always alert for invasives around our 30 acres of swamp, we are watching a few large mats of this proliferate this year in the record cool and moist weather along the gravel driveway and boat landing road with suspicion We have likewise concluded that it is Hog Peanut, and as such is an annual, which lowers the Terror Alert level to yellow. Please correct us if we are mistaken.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hog Peanut