VICIA ERVILIA

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

Common Name:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Ervum ervilia.

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

philosopher Pliny for vetch.

Ervilia (L) Latin name for vetch.

General description:- Erect, subglabrous or puberulent annual.

Stems:-

1)15-50(-70) cm.

Leaves:-

1) Without tendrils, ending in a mucro.

2) Leaflets, 8-15(-20) pairs, 5-15 x 1-4 mm, oblanceolate, truncate.

3) Stipules, entire or palmatifid, each pair ± identical.

Flowers:-

1) Racemes, 1- to 4-flowered.

4) Peduncles, much shorter than the leaves.

2) Calyx-teeth, equal, longer than the tube.

3) Corolla, 6-9(-12) mm, white tinged with red or purple.

a) standard, purple-mauve.

b) wings, whitish.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, 12-25 x 4-6 mm, yellow, glabrous, torulose. constricted between the

2-4(-5) seeds.

2) Seeds, 2-4; hilum, 1/12 of the circumference.

Key features:-

1) Leaves, without tendrils.

2) Stipules, of each pair ± identical.

3) Calyx-teeth, equal, all equalling or longer than the tube.

4) Legume, cylindrical, torulose.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Steppe-like habitats, stony fallow fields, limestone screes, generally 0-

700 m.

Distribution:- Few Greek records outside the Aegean area; most reports are old

and may refer to subspontaneous material.- Mediterranean area and SW Asia to

Afghanistan; formerly cultivated for fodder. Rare on Crete currentlly known from a

few locations in the central reagion..

Flowering time:- March-May.

Photos by:- A. N. Other