Vicia americana |
Vicia lathyroides |
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American vetch, purple vetch |
pea vetch, spring vetch |
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Habit | Herbs perennial. | Herbs annual or winter annual. | ||||
Stems | erect, trailing, or climbing, slender to stout, to 20 dm. |
erect or sprawling, slender, 0.5–3 dm. |
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Leaves | 2–8 cm; tendrils simple or branched; stipules much smaller than leaflets, semisagittate, without nectariferous patch; leaflets 8–18, blades ovate or elliptic to linear, 3–44 × 1–19 mm, apex obtuse to truncate-emarginate, or apiculate, surfaces glabrous or finely pubescent. |
1–2 cm; tendrils simple; stipules foliose, approaching leaflets in size, hastate, with nectariferous patch abaxially; leaflets 4–8, blades ovate-obovate to elliptic-linear, 8–16 × 1–3 mm, apex acute to truncate-emarginate, apiculate, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent, hairs long. |
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Inflorescences | 3–9-flowered, 2–8 cm, shorter than or equal to subtending leaf rachis. |
undeveloped, 1(or 2)-flowered, 0–1 cm. |
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Flowers | 12–25 mm; calyx base symmetric, lobes subequal, shorter than tube; corolla usually bluish purple, rarely white, banner oblong, blade equal to claw, glabrous; style compressed abaxially, pubescent apically, tufted abaxially. |
5–8 mm; calyx base symmetric, lobes equal, subequal to tube; corolla violet, fading white, banner stenonychioid, blade longer than claw, glabrous; style compressed abaxially, pubescent apically, tufted abaxially. |
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Legumes | tawny to brown, oblong, 25–39 × 5–9 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous or pubescent; stipe to 4–5 mm. |
dark brown to black, linear, 15–25 × 3–4 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous; stipe absent. |
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Seeds | number not known, olive-brown to deep violet-brown, subglobose, 3–4 mm diam.; hilum encircling 1/4–1/3 circumference of seed. |
6 or 7, reddish maroon, grayish brown, or blackish, quadrate, 1.5–2 mm diam.; hilum minute. |
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2n | = 10, 12. |
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Vicia americana |
Vicia lathyroides |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | |||||
Habitat | Sandy grasslands, field edges, lawns, waste areas. | |||||
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
North America; n Mexico; e Asia
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AL; CA; GA; MA; MS; NC; NH; SC; VA; WA; BC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (2 in the flora). Vicia americana consists of a polymorphic assemblage of populations among which leaflet size, shape, and vestiture is variable. Intergradation is widespread. C. R. Gunn (1968) described two relatively distinct entities which may represent the extremes of a continuum of variation in some regions. Variety sinensis C. R. Gunn occurs in eastern Asia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Vicia | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Vicia | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Muhlenburg ex Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 3: 1096. (1802) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 736. (1753) | ||||
Web links |
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