VICIA BENGHALENSIS

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Sect. CRACCA

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Cracca benghalensis.

Meaning:- Vicia (L) Binder, to bind, a name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny for vetch.

Benghalensis (L) From Bengal (Benghala), India.

General description:- Weak-stemmed annual or short-lived perennial.

Stems:-

1) 20-80 cm tall, sparsely patent-pilose or villous throughout.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets, 5-9 pairs, oblong; tendril branched.

2) Stipules, usually dentate on one side and entire on the other.

Flowers:-

1) In long-pedunculate, 5-10-flowered, unilateral racemes.

2) Calyx tube, strongly gibbous at the base;

a) teeth, very unequal, the longest equalling the tube, linear-lanceolate.

3) Corolla, 12-18 mm;

a) standard limb, half as long as the claw, dark magenta-purple.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, 25-40 x 8-11 mm, pubescent. 3-5 seeded.

Key features:-

1) Stipules, usually dentate on one side and entire on the other.

2) Corolla, a dark magenta-purple.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, olive groves, orchards and somewhat damp

ruderal habitats. 0-600 m.

Distribution:- Scattered in coastal areas of W Greece. - Widespread in the

Mediterranean region, also cultivated and sometimes naturalised elsewhere. Very

rare on Crete currently known from only one location near Kandanos in the SW of

the island.

Flowering time:- Apr-May.

Photos by:- Courtesy of Wiki-Commons