What is the purple flowered crop seen in British fields?

I don't think flax (linseed) -- that's sky-blue, could surely not be called purple? Looks like a bit of sky pinned to the ground, then when ripe a lovely rust-red. Short plant, spherical seed pods. Fibre-flax (unusual) similar, but very tall.





Not rape (canola) -- always yellow-flowered (flowers in May).





Not sugar-beet -- greenish flowers (like spinach).





Potato can have purple flowers (or white), but I think you'd probably notice it was potatoes, not call it a purple-flowered crop. Would be in ridged rows.





Hemp (Cannabis) has greenish or whitish flowers too. Quite rare as crop, but can be grown (under licence) for hemp-seed or fibre (when it grows over 2 m tall). Drug-hemp not normally grown in fields...





Lavender is possible, but not often grown and then usually in market-garden type environment -- I've only once seen it in what could be called a field. Grown in tight rows, like many parallel hedges.





Lupins are also possible, but likewise not often grown.





Most likely I think this is lucerne (alfafa). Tall, purple-flowered, not unusual, grown in fields for hay or haylage to feed to cattle. The leaf is trifoliate, like clover, to which it is related.





It is almost certainly not sukebind.





Edit -





Two other possibilities occur to me.





It might not be a crop, but a weed on setaside land. These can sometimes grow very densely, and then they may look like a crop.





Alternatively it may be a similar species grown as green manure or pheasant feed.





Examples:





Phacelia (Phacelia tanecetifolia). Blue-purple flowers, plant about 30 cm tall. Can be weed or pheasant feed.





Common storksbill (Erodium cicutarium). Mauvish pink, Low-growing, may become a dominant weed on sandy ground, occasionally on field scale.





Red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum). Weed of arable crops, can be dominant when field is fallow, but usually in patches rather than whole fields. The English name is misleading: it's not red, it's not dead, and of course it's not a true nettle. Flowers purplish pink, upper leaves tinged purple, giving a patch a purplish look. Rather late for dense stands now, though it does flower all summer.





Common vetch (Vicia sativa). Can be dominant, but rarely. Two-tone pea-type flowers, pinkish purple.





Curious Orange's suggestion of beans is a possibility, though I think not all that likely, as the purple and white flowers are largely hidden by the leaves. The varieties of broad bean usually found on a field scale in the UK are grown for their seeds, not the green pods as broad bean is, and though they are the same species (Vicia faba), they are usually called field bean or sometimes horse bean. Lovely scent when a whole field is in flower.





Overall I still think lucerne/alfafa (Melilota sativa) is most likely. If not sukebind...

What is the purple flowered crop seen in British fields?
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Reply:Linseed
Reply:alphalfa hay here in the states also has a purple blossom when grown for seed. I would say flax or lavender. ?
Reply:Linseed is blue. Broad beans have a sort of purplish flower as do some varieties of potato. Or maybe you saw some borage? I'll link you to pictures of some of the other crops that people have suggested too.


...


Pictures:


Linseed - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linseed


Broad bean - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_bean


Potato - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Potat...


Borage - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borage


Lavender - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender


Alfalfa - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfalfa


Phacelia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phacelia
Reply:think it's rape seed oil,like the yellow one,but purple.
Reply:Flax, grown for it's seed; linseed.
Reply:Believe it or not but it is most probably hemp.
Reply:either lavender or more probably linseed
Reply:Could be lavender
Reply:Purple? It could be Lupins, a variety of potato or sugar beet.

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