Vicia sativa |
Vicia americana |
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common vetch, garden vetch, spring vetch, tare |
American vetch, purple vetch |
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Habit | Herbs annual. | Herbs perennial. | ||||||||
Stems | erect-ascending or climbing, slender to robust, 3–10 dm. |
erect, trailing, or climbing, slender to stout, to 20 dm. |
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Leaves | 3–8 cm; tendrils simple or branched; stipules foliose, approaching leaflets in size, semisagittate, with nectariferous patch abaxially; leaflets 8–14, blades ovate-oblong, narrowly elliptic, or linear [obovate], 15–30 × 5–15 mm, apex obtuse to truncate-emarginate, distinctly apiculate, surfaces hirsute. |
2–8 cm; tendrils simple or branched; stipules much smaller than leaflets, semisagittate, without nectariferous patch; leaflets 8–18, blades ovate or elliptic to linear, 3–44 × 1–19 mm, apex obtuse to truncate-emarginate, or apiculate, surfaces glabrous or finely pubescent. |
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Inflorescences | usually (1 or)2(–4)-flowered, 0–1 cm. |
3–9-flowered, 2–8 cm, shorter than or equal to subtending leaf rachis. |
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Flowers | 10–30 mm; calyx base symmetric, lobes subequal, ± equal to tube; corolla violet-purple, lavender, or whitish, banner stenonychioid, blade shorter than or equal to claw, glabrous; style compressed abaxially, pubescent apically, tufted abaxially. |
12–25 mm; calyx base symmetric, lobes subequal, shorter than tube; corolla usually bluish purple, rarely white, banner oblong, blade equal to claw, glabrous; style compressed abaxially, pubescent apically, tufted abaxially. |
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Legumes | yellow to brown, or reddish brown to black, linear, 25–60 × 3–11 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous or pubescent; stipe absent. |
tawny to brown, oblong, 25–39 × 5–9 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous or pubescent; stipe to 4–5 mm. |
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Seeds | 4–12, usually greenish gray to maroon or black, rarely yellowish white, globose or ± compressed, 3–5 mm diam.; hilum encircling 1/6–1/5 circumference of seed. |
number not known, olive-brown to deep violet-brown, subglobose, 3–4 mm diam.; hilum encircling 1/4–1/3 circumference of seed. |
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Vicia sativa |
Vicia americana |
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Distribution |
Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, South America, elsewhere in Asia, Africa, Australia]
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North America; n Mexico; e Asia
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Discussion | Varieties 7 (2 in the flora). D. Zohary and U. Plitmann (1979) provided a detailed description of the morphological and genetic variation found within the Vicia sativa complex. Of the seven infraspecific taxa they described, two (vars. angustifolia and sativa) are cultivated as forage crops and widely introduced in the flora area. Variety angustifolia is an aggressive colonizer of cultivated and disturbed habitats. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 3 (2 in the flora). Vicia americana consists of a polymorphic assemblage of populations among which leaflet size, shape, and vestiture is variable. Intergradation is widespread. C. R. Gunn (1968) described two relatively distinct entities which may represent the extremes of a continuum of variation in some regions. Variety sinensis C. R. Gunn occurs in eastern Asia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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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 | ||||||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 736. (1753) | Muhlenburg ex Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 3: 1096. (1802) | ||||||||
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