A single line of vegetation is common in natural rivers and ecological restoration projects and can serve many purposes. However, the strong momentum transfer between the vegetated and non‐vegetated areas and the discontinuously distributed patches usually makes it difficult to predict the lateral distributions of velocity. This study experimentally investigated channel flow with an array of emergent porous vegetation patches planted along the sidewall. The lateral distribution of depth‐averaged streamwise velocity was modeled using a modified Shiono and Knight method. The influences of lateral turbulence, bed friction, drag force, and secondary flows indicated by , f, C_d, and were all considered in the model. The input parameters and the boundary conditions were analyzed thoroughly and determined accordingly. The results showed that the modeled data agree reasonably well with the experimental data for …