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four-seed vetch, lentil tare, lentil vetch, slender vetch, smooth tare, sparrow vetch

common vetch, garden vetch, spring vetch, tare

Habit Herbs annual, sparsely pubescent. Herbs annual.
Stems

sprawling or climbing, filiform, 1–5 dm.

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

Leaves

1–4 cm;

tendrils simple or branched;

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

leaflets 4–12, blades oblanceolate or elliptic to linear, 6–20 × 1–5 mm, apex acute to apiculate, surfaces glabrous or sparsely villous.

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.

Inflorescences

1–3-flowered, 1–3 cm, equal to or longer than subtending leaf rachis.

usually (1 or)2(–4)-flowered, 0–1 cm.

Flowers

3–6 mm;

calyx base symmetric, lobes unequal, longer than or equal to tube;

corolla light purple to pale lavender, banner stenonychioid, blade equal to claw, glabrous;

style compressed abaxially, sparsely pubescent apically.

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.

Legumes

yellow to light brown, oblong, 10–15 × 3–4 mm, tip rounded, stigma attached to center of curve, glabrous;

stipe to 1 mm.

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

stipe absent.

Seeds

4, greenish gray to purplish black, subglobose, 1.5–2 mm diam.;

hilum encircling 1/5–1/4 circumference of seed.

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.

2n

= 14.

Vicia tetrasperma

Vicia sativa

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Fields, roadsides, waste areas, woodlands.
Elevation 0–2000 m. (0–6600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; ID; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WV; BC; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM; Europe [Introduced in North America; introduced also in s South America (Chile)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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]
Discussion

Vicia tetrasperma var. tenuissima Druce in the sense of M. L. Fernald (1950), and listed as a separate variety of V. tetrasperma, is considered here and by D. Isely (1990) as a synonym of V. tetrasperma.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

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. sativa, V. sepium, 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. ocalensis, V. pannonica, V. pulchella, V. sepium, V. tetrasperma, V. villosa
Subordinate taxa
V. sativa var. angustifolia, V. sativa var. sativa
Synonyms Ervum tetraspermum
Name authority (Linnaeus) Schreber: Spic. Fl. Lips., 26. (1771) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 736. (1753)
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