VICIA PARVIFLORA

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

Common Name:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Vicia tenuissima, Vicia gracilis, Vicia laxiflora

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

philosopher Pliny for vetch.

Parviflora (L) Small-flowered.

General description:- Very slender, subglabrous annual .

Stems:-

1) 15-40 cm, ascending to scrambling.

Leaves:-

1) Leaves, 2-5-paired.

2) Leaflets, narrowly linear-oblong or those of lowest leaves broader.

3) Stipules semi-hastate.

Flowers:-

1) Racemes, 2-5-flowered, lax.

2) Pedicels, filiform, exceeding the subtending

3) Calyx tube, campanulate, not gibbous, sparsely appressed-pubescent,

a) mouth, oblique.

b) teeth, unequal, shorter than the tube.

4) Corolla, 6-9 mm, pale bluish-mauve.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, 12-17 x 3-4 mm, brown, glabrous or pubescent.

2) Seeds, 4-6; hilum 1/12-1/8 of the circumference.

Key features:-

1) Lower calyx-teeth, shorter than the tube.

2) Leaflets, 0·5-3 mm wide.

3) Racemes, (1-)2- to 5-flowered, longer than the leaves.

4) Hilum, 1/12 -1 /8 of the circumference of the seed.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Damp, sometimes saline meadows, seasonally wet spots in scrub, olive

groves, orchards and dolines. 0-700(-1100) m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece and the Mediterranean. Scattered but

limit distribution on Crete, mainly to the west.

Flowering time:- Apr to early June.

Photos by:- Dr. Armin Jagel