Flora of North America species comparison

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Vicia lathyroides

pea vetch, spring vetch
Habit Herbs annual or winter annual.
Stems

erect or sprawling, slender, 0.5–3 dm.
Leaves

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.
Inflorescences

undeveloped, 1(or 2)-flowered, 0–1 cm.
Flowers

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.
Legumes

dark brown to black, linear, 15–25 × 3–4 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous;

stipe absent.
Seeds

6 or 7, reddish maroon, grayish brown, or blackish, quadrate, 1.5–2 mm diam.;

hilum minute.
2n

= 10, 12.

Vicia lathyroides
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Sandy grasslands, field edges, lawns, waste areas.
Elevation 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CA; GA; MA; MS; NC; NH; SC; VA; WA; BC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Vicia
Sibling taxa
V. acutifolia, V. americana, V. benghalensis, V. caroliniana, V. cracca, V. disperma, V. faba, V. floridana, V. grandiflora, V. hassei, V. hirsuta, V. leucophaea, V. ludoviciana, V. lutea, V. minutiflora, V. narbonensis, V. nigricans, V. ocalensis, V. pannonica, V. pulchella, V. sativa, V. sepium, V. tetrasperma, V. villosa
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 736. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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