The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

black vetch, giant vetch, spring vetch, tiny vetch

big-flower vetch, large yellow vetch

Habit Herbs annual.
Stems

sprawling or climbing, slender to robust, 3–6 dm.

Leaves

1–4 cm;

tendrils branched;

stipules foliose, approaching leaflets in size, semisagittate, with nectariferous patch abaxially;

leaflets 6–14, blades oblong to linear, 10–25 × 1–5 mm, apex obtuse to truncate-emarginate, surfaces finely pubescent.

Inflorescences

1–3-flowered, 0–1 cm.

Flowers

25–35 mm;

calyx base symmetric, lobes equal, 1/2–2/3 length of tube;

corolla yellow suffused with violet, banner stenonychioid, blade equal to claw, glabrous;

style compressed abaxially, pubescent apically, tufted abaxially.

Legumes

black, linear, 25–45 × 7–10 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrate;

stipe absent.

Seeds

ca. 15, brown with indistinct black spots, compressed-globose, 3–3.5 mm diam.;

hilum raised, white, encircling 3/4 circumference of seed.

2n

= 12, 14.

Vicia nigricans

Vicia grandiflora

Phenology Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Roadsides, open woods, cul­tivated 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; DE; FL; GA; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MS; NC; NJ; NY; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; c Europe; se Europe [Introduced in North 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.)

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. caroliniana, V. cracca, V. disperma, V. faba, V. floridana, 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) Scopoli: Fl. Carniol. ed. 2, 2: 65, plate 42. (1772)
Web links