SPECIES DESCRIPTION
CICER ARIETINUM
Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE
Common Names:- Chick-pea
Homotypic Synonyms:- Vicia arietina.
Meaning:- Cicer (L) The old Latin name for chick-pea.
Arietinum (L) like a rams head, ram-horned.
General description:- Erect, glandular and eglandular-pubescent annual.
Stem:-
1) 15-50(-80) cm.
Leaves:-
1) Imparipinnate, rhachis, grooved above.
2) Leaflets, 3-8 pairs, sharply biserrate.
3) Stipules, remotely incised-serrate.
Flowers:-
1) Solitary, rarely paired.
2) Peduncles, aristate, shorter than the leaves.
3) Calyx, slightly gibbous at the base, teeth at least twice as long as the tube.
4) Corolla, pink, purple or white;
a) standard, obovate, to 12 mm, glabrous.
Fruit:-
1) Legume, oblong-ellipsoid 14-20(-30) x 8-15(-20) mm. glandular-pubescent.
2) Seeds, 1-2. subglobose, beaked, 6-8 mm diam.
Key features:-
1) Upper leaves, terminated by a leaflet.
2) Corolla, 10-12 mm.
3) Calyx, slightly gibbous at the base; teeth at least twice as long as the tube.
4) Peduncles, shorter than the leaves.
Habitat:- Cultivated as a crop plant and occasionally naturalised in ruderal habitats.
0-800 m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. Much cultivated in the Near East and
India, now on a smaller scale in the Mediterranean. Still rare on Crete, currently
known from three locations
Flowering time:- Apr-June.
Photos by:- Manolis Petakakis
