Flora of North America species comparison

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Vicia nigricans

Vicia acutifolia

black vetch, giant vetch, spring vetch, tiny vetch

fourleaf vetch, sand vetch
Habit Herbs perennial.
Stems

few, sprawling or climbing, slender, 2–15 dm.
Leaves

2–6 cm;

tendrils simple or branched;

stipules much smaller than leaflets, semisagittate, without nectariferous patch;

leaflets (2 or)4(or 6), blades narrowly lanceolate to linear, 15–30 × 1–5 mm, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous or sparsely long-pubescent.
Inflorescences

4–10-flowered, 2–7 cm, longer than subtending leaf rachis.
Flowers

6–8 mm;

calyx base symmetric, lobes unequal, longest one shorter than tube;

corolla pale blue or lavender to white, banner pandurate, blade subequal to claw, glabrous;

style compressed adaxially, evenly pubescent apically.
Legumes

brown to black, linear-oblong, 20–25 × 4–6 mm, oblique-tipped, sparsely long-pubescent;

stipe to 1–2 mm.
Seeds

4–8, purplish black, compressed-globose, 2–2.5 mm diam.;

hilum encircling 2/3 circumference of seed.

Vicia nigricans

Vicia acutifolia
Phenology Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Wet woodlands, margins of swamps, wet ditches, sandy soils.
Elevation 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
w North America; s South America (Argentina, Chile)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; GA; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

Variety nigricans is known from Pacific coastal areas of southern South America.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Typical Vicia acutifolia has four leaflets. Populations in the northern part of its range in Georgia and South Carolina sometimes have six somewhat broader leaflets, which may indicate intergradation with V. caroliniana (D. Isely 1990). Vicia acutifolia differs from V. floridana in its longer fruits, flowers, leaflets, and inflorescences.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Vicia 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. lathyroides, V. leucophaea, V. ludoviciana, V. lutea, V. minutiflora, V. narbonensis, V. ocalensis, V. pannonica, V. pulchella, V. sativa, V. sepium, V. tetrasperma, V. villosa
V. americana, V. benghalensis, V. caroliniana, V. cracca, V. disperma, V. faba, V. floridana, V. grandiflora, V. hassei, V. hirsuta, V. lathyroides, 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
Subordinate taxa
V. nigricans var. gigantea
Name authority Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 20. (1830) Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 2: 225. (1823)
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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