Vicia americana |
Vicia pulchella |
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American vetch, purple vetch |
beautiful vetch, showy vetch, sweetclover vetch |
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Habit | Herbs perennial. | Herbs perennial. | ||||
Stems | erect, trailing, or climbing, slender to stout, to 20 dm. |
sprawling or climbing, slender, 2–15 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. |
4–11 cm; tendrils branched; stipules much smaller than leaflets, ligulate, without nectariferous patch; leaflets 10–16, blades elliptic-oblong to linear, 7–30 × 1–11 mm, apex obtuse, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial often sparsely long-pubescent. |
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Inflorescences | 3–9-flowered, 2–8 cm, shorter than or equal to subtending leaf rachis. |
8–25-flowered, 2–15 cm, shorter to longer than subtending leaf rachis. |
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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. |
4–7 mm; calyx base symmetric, lobes equal, usually shorter than tube; corolla cream-white with purple-tipped keel, banner pandurate, blade equal to claw, glabrous; style compressed adaxially, pubescent evenly for some length along style. |
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Legumes | tawny to brown, oblong, 25–39 × 5–9 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous or pubescent; stipe to 4–5 mm. |
reddish brown, oblong, 20–35 × 5–8 mm, acute-tipped, glabrous; stipe 1–2 mm. |
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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. |
5–9, purplish black, compressed-subglobose, 2–3 mm diam.; hilum encircling 1/4 circumference of seed. |
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Vicia americana |
Vicia pulchella |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Sep. | |||||
Habitat | Pine woods, juniper grasslands, moist meadows, open stony hillsides. | |||||
Elevation | 1500–3000 m. (4900–9800 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
North America; n Mexico; e Asia
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AZ; NM; Mexico
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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 | ||||||
Synonyms | V. melilotoides | |||||
Name authority | Muhlenburg ex Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 3: 1096. (1802) | Kunth in A. von Humboldt et al.: Nov. Gen. Sp. 6(fol.): 390; 6(qto.): 499; plate 583. (1824) | ||||
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