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common vetch, garden vetch, spring vetch, tare

pygmyflower vetch, small-flower vetch

Habit Herbs annual. Herbs winter annual.
Stems

erect-ascending or climbing, slender to robust, 3–10 dm.

sprawling or climbing, slender, 2–8 dm.

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.

2–6 cm;

tendrils simple or branched (absent on proximal leaves);

stipules foliose, semisagittate, without nectariferous patch;

leaflets 2 or 4 proximally, 4–8 distally, blades ovate proximally, linear distally, 5–30 × 1–5 mm, apex obtuse to acute, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescences

usually (1 or)2(–4)-flowered, 0–1 cm.

1- or 2-flowered, 1–5 cm, ± shorter than subtending leaf rachis.

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.

5–8 mm;

calyx base symmetric, lobes unequal, shorter than tube;

corolla pale blue to lavender, banner pandurate, blade equal to claw, glabrous;

style compressed adaxially, pubescent apically.

Legumes

yellow to brown, or reddish brown to black, linear, 25–60 × 3–11 mm, oblique-tipped, glabrous or pubescent;

stipe absent.

reddish brown, narrowly oblong-falcate, 15–30 × 4–5 mm, apiculate, glabrous;

stipe absent.

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.

6–8, blackish purple, subglobose, 2 mm diam.;

hilum encircling 5/8 circumference of seed.

Vicia sativa

Vicia minutiflora

Phenology Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Mesic woodlands, limestone soils, disturbed sites.
Elevation 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, South America, elsewhere in Asia, Africa, Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MO; MS; OK; TN; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Key
1. Flowers 18–30 mm; calyx lobes usually equal to tube; legumes yellow to brown, pubescent.
var. sativa
1. Flowers 10–18(–20) mm; calyx lobes usually slightly shorter than tube; legumes reddish brown to black, glabrous.
var. angustifolia
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. nigricans, V. ocalensis, V. pannonica, V. pulchella, 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. narbonensis, V. nigricans, V. ocalensis, V. pannonica, V. pulchella, V. sativa, V. sepium, V. tetrasperma, V. villosa
Subordinate taxa
V. sativa var. angustifolia, V. sativa var. sativa
Synonyms V. micrantha, V. reverchonii
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 736. (1753) D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 4: 1107. (1847)
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