Flora of North America species comparison

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Vicia nigricans

Vicia americana

black vetch, giant vetch, spring vetch, tiny vetch

American vetch, purple vetch
Habit Herbs perennial.
Stems

erect, trailing, or climbing, slender to stout, to 20 dm.
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.
Inflorescences

3–9-flowered, 2–8 cm, shorter than or equal to subtending leaf rachis.
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.
Legumes

tawny to brown, oblong, 25–39 × 5–9 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous or pubescent;

stipe to 4–5 mm.
Seeds

number not known, olive-brown to deep violet-brown, subglobose, 3–4 mm diam.;

hilum encircling 1/4–1/3 circumference of seed.

Vicia nigricans

Vicia americana
Distribution
from USDA
w North America; s South America (Argentina, Chile)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America; n Mexico; e Asia
[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.)

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.)
Key
1. Stems usually 4–20 dm, trailing or climbing; leaves with branched tendrils; inflorescences (3–)4–9-flowered.
var. americana
1. Stems usually to 4 dm, erect; leaves often with simple tendrils; inflorescences 3–4(–5)-flowered.
var. minor
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. acutifolia, 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
V. americana var. americana, V. americana var. minor
Name authority Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 20. (1830) Muhlenburg ex Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 3: 1096. (1802)
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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