Vicia nigricans |
Vicia sepium |
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black vetch, giant vetch, spring vetch, tiny vetch |
bush vetch, hedge vetch |
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Habit | Herbs perennial. | |
Stems | erect or climbing, slender, 3–10 dm. |
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Leaves | 6–10 cm; tendrils branched; stipules much smaller than leaflets, semisagittate, with nectariferous patch abaxially; leaflets 8–16, blades ovate or elliptic to lanceolate, 20–35 × 5–15 mm, apex obtuse to truncate-emarginate, abaxial surface sparsely pubescent, adaxial glabrous. |
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Inflorescences | 2–7-flowered, to 1 cm, shorter than subtending leaf rachis. |
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Flowers | 8–15 mm; calyx base symmetric, lobes equal, shorter than tube; corolla blue-violet and white, banner oblong, blade equal to claw, glabrous; style compressed abaxially, pubescent apically, tufted abaxially. |
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Legumes | black, elliptic, 20–35 × 5–8 mm, tip up-curved, glabrate; stipe to 2 mm. |
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Seeds | 3–6, yellowish, reddish, gray or greenish gray with blackish spots or entirely black, globose, 3–4 mm diam.; hilum encircling 1/2–3/4 circumference of seed. |
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2n | = 12, 14. |
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Vicia nigricans |
Vicia sepium |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | |
Habitat | Roadsides, old fields. | |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.) | |
Distribution |
w North America; s South America (Argentina, Chile)
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MA; ME; MI; NH; NY; PA; VT; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; Greenland; Europe; Asia [Introduced in North America]
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Vicia | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Vicia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. sepium var. montana | |
Name authority | Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 20. (1830) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 737. (1753) |
Web links |
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