Flora of North America species comparison

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Vicia nigricans

Vicia caroliniana

black vetch, giant vetch, spring vetch, tiny vetch

Carolina or pale or wood vetch, Carolina vetch
Habit Herbs perennial.
Stems

sprawling or climbing, slender, 3–15 dm.
Leaves

2–8 cm;

tendrils mucronate on proximal leaves, simple or branched on distal leaves;

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

leaflets 10–24, blades elliptic-oblong or oblanceolate to linear, 10–30 × 2–6 mm, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous or abaxial puberulent.
Inflorescences

7–20-flowered, 3–10 cm, shorter to longer than subtending leaf rachis.
Flowers

8–12 mm;

calyx base symmetric, lobes subequal, shorter than tube;

corolla white with blue tip, banner pandurate, blade equal to or longer than claw, glabrous;

style compressed adaxially, pubescent apically, tufted abaxially.
Legumes

reddish brown, narrowly oblong, 15–30 × 4–5 mm, obliquely long-tipped, glabrous;

stipe to 2 mm.
Seeds

5–8 violet brown to black, compressed-subglobose or subglobose, 2–4 mm diam.;

hilum encircling 3/4 circumference of seed.

Vicia nigricans

Vicia caroliniana
Phenology Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Rich alluvial woodlands, woodland borders, roadsides, old fields.
Elevation 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
w North America; s South America (Argentina, Chile)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; ON
[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 caroliniana possibly intergrades with V. acutifolia where their ranges overlap in Georgia and South Carolina (D. Isely 1990); V. caroliniana and V. pulchella, native to the American Southwest, are almost certainly related.

(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. benghalensis, 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. hugeri
Name authority Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 20. (1830) Walter: Fl. Carol., 182. (1788)
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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