Flora of North America species comparison

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Vicia nigricans

Vicia benghalensis

black vetch, giant vetch, spring vetch, tiny vetch

purple vetch, reddish tuft vetch
Habit Herbs annual or biennial.
Stems

sprawling or climbing, slender, 10–20 dm.
Leaves

3–6 cm;

tendrils branched;

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

leaflets 10–16, blades ovate-oblong to linear, 10–30 × 4–9 mm, apex obtuse, surfaces villous.
Inflorescences

2–12-flowered, 3–12 cm, equal to subtending leaf rachis.
Flowers

13–18 mm;

calyx base gibbous, lobes unequal, usually equal to tube;

corolla white at base, purple apically, banner pandurate, blade shorter than or equal to claw, glabrous;

style compressed adaxially, pubescent apically.
Legumes

tawny, narrowly oblong, 25–35 × 8–12 mm, oblique-tipped, densely villous;

stipe to 1–2 mm.
Seeds

4 or 5, velvety black with prominent white hilum, compressed-subglobose, 4–5 mm diam.;

hilum encircling 1/5 circumference of seed.
2n

= 14.

Vicia nigricans

Vicia benghalensis
Phenology Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Disturbed areas.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
w North America; s South America (Argentina, Chile)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
s Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in s South America]
[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.)

Vicia benghalensis is cultivated as a cover crop along the Pacific Coast; it has become established in California. It can be distinguished from V. villosa by its pubescent fruits.

(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. acutifolia, V. americana, 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
Synonyms V. atropurpurea
Name authority Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 20. (1830) 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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