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black vetch, giant vetch, spring vetch, tiny vetch

ocala vetch

Habit Herbs perennial.
Stems

sprawling or climbing, slender, 5–15 dm.

Leaves

4–8 cm;

tendrils simple;

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

leaflets (2 or)4(or 6), blades narrowly oblong to linear, 30–50 × 3–6 mm, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescences

5–10-flowered, 3–15 cm, longer than subtending leaf rachis.

Flowers

8–12 mm;

calyx base symmetric, lobes equal, shorter than or equal to tube;

corolla blue or lavender and white, banner pandurate, blade equal to claw, glabrous;

style compressed adaxially, pubescent apically.

Legumes

brown, oblong, 40–45 × 7–8 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous;

stipe 1–2 mm.

Seeds

8–12, purplish black, compressed-globose, 3–3.5 mm diam.;

hilum encircling 2/3 circumference of seed.

Vicia nigricans

Vicia ocalensis

Phenology Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Thickets, open moist areas.
Elevation 0–70 m. (0–200 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
w North America; s South America (Argentina, Chile)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL
[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 ocalensis is known only from Lake and Marion counties; it is similar to V. acutifolia but differs in its more robust stature and larger leaflets, flowers, and 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. 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. 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) R. K. Godfrey & Kral: Rhodora 60: 256, figs. 4, 5. (1958)
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