VICIA LATHYROIDES

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

Common Names:- Spring vetch

Homotypic Synonyms:- Ervum lathyroides, Wiggersia lathyroides.

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

philosopher Pliny for vetch.

Lathyroides (L) Resembling lathyrus.

General description:- Slender. ascending to suberect, ± pubescent annual.

Stems:-

1) 10-20 cm.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets, 2-4 pairs, 4-14(-20) x 0·5-4 mm, obovate-elliptical to linear, shortly

mucronate, tendrils simple.

2) Stipules, subentire, semi-sagittate.

Flowers:-

1) Solitary, subsessile in the leaf axils.

2) Calyx-teeth, equal, about as long as the tube.

3) Corolla, 5-8 mm, reddish-purple with paler wings.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, linear,15-30 x 2-4 mm, contracted into a short, recuwed beak, glabrous.

2) Seeds, 5-10, 1.5-2 mm in diam., tuberculate.

Key features:-

1) Corolla, 5-8 mm, reddish-purple with paler wings.

2) Seeds, tuberculate.

3) Legume, 15-30 x 3-4 mm, with a short curved beak.

4) Leaflets, of upper leaves shortly mucronate.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Coastal habitats, dry grassland, dry open shrubby vegetation, olive

groves, fallow fields. 0-800 (-1400) m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece. - Most of Europe the Mediterranean region and

SW Asia to Iran. Fairly widespread across Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar-May, sometimes later.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis