SPECIES DESCRIPTION
LATHYRUS OCHRUS
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE
Common Name:- Winged vetchling
Homotypic Synonyms:- Clymenum ochrus, Orobus ochrus, Pisum ochrus.
Meaning:- Lathyrus (Gr) The ancient name for chickling pea.
Ochrus (Gr) Pale yellowish.
General description:- Scrambling, glabrous annual.
Stem:-
1) 20-50 cm long, distinctly winged by decurrent leaf bases.
Leaves:-
1) Lower, and middle lacking leaflets, consisting of a decurrent,ovate-elliptical, leaf-
like rhachis tipped with a mucro or branched tendril.
2) Upper, with 1(-2) pair(s) of leaflets.
3) Leaflets,15-35 x 6-20 mm, ovate-elliptical.
4) Stipules, 6-12 mm, linear to ovate, semi-hastate.
Flowers:-
1) Racemes, short, 1- to 2-flowered.
2) Calyx, slightly unequal, as long as the tube.
3) Corolla, 15-20 mm, corolla pale yellow.
4) Style, aristate.
Fruit:-
1) Legume, 40-60 x 10-12 mm, with 2 wings on the dorsal suture, not torulose.
2) Seeds, 5-6 mm, subglobose, smooth. hilum 1/7-1/6 of the circumference.
Key features:-
1) At least the upper leaves, with 1 or more pairs of leaflets.
2) Stem, winged, at least in the upper part.
3) Lower leaves, without leaflets, the rhachis broadly winged and resembling a leaf.
4) Upper leaves, with 1-2 pairs of leaflets.
5) Corolla, yellow.
6) Legume, dorsal suture, with 2 wings.
Habitat:- Seasonally wet places in fallow fields, vineyards, olive groves, meadow
and roadsides, sometimes cultivated land. 0-300(-800) m.
Distribution:- Coastal areas throughout W Greece. - Mediterranean region
extending to N & W. Anatolia. Somewhat sparsely scattered across Crete.
Flowering time:- Mar-May.
Photos by:- Kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images
