Family |
Fabaceae
Vicia sativa
L.
Vicia sativa L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 736 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 403, Pl. CLXIV, 3; 1970)
Description
Life-form & habit: Hairy annual with ascending or climbing stems, 20–60 cm tall.
Leaves: Leaves with 6–7 pairs of obovate or oblong leaflets, truncate or shallowly notched at the tip. Stipules half-hastate and toothed.
Inflorescence & flowers: Axillary flowers solitary or paired, on stalks shorter than the calyx. Calyx with appressed bristles, about half as long as the corolla; its nearly equal, lanceolate-pointed teeth equal the tube. Corolla violet, with a broad standard scarcely exceeding the wings and keel.
Fruit: Yellowish, hairy pod constricted between the seeds. Seeds rounded, flattened and smooth.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: March–April.
Habitat & elevation: Cultivated and escaping from cultivation.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Historical records: Beirut, Tripoli, Jabal Terbol, below Beit Meri, Akkar plain, Hasroun and the Yanta road; Mouterde cautions that some may concern V. cordata.
Syrian distribution: Historical records subject to the same caution: Babesqa, Tigris riverbanks, Hamme and Qneitra.
Recorded locations: Kfertay.
Doubtful distribution records: Kew lists DR Congo, Tanzania and Uganda as doubtfully present, separately from its native and introduced records.
Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Assam, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, Canary Is., Central European Russia, China South-Central, China Southeast, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, East Himalaya, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Gulf States, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kriti, Krym, Kuril Is., Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Magadan, Mongolia, Morocco, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, Netherlands, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Romania, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, South European Russia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan-South Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Western Sahara, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Yemen.
Introduced into: Alabama, Alaska, Amsterdam-St.Paul Is., Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Arizona, Arkansas, Bermuda, Brazil South, British Columbia, California, Cape Provinces, Chatham Is., Chile Central, Chile South, China North-Central, Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Cuba, Delaware, District of Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Falkland Is., Florida, Free State, Føroyar, Georgia, Greenland, Haiti, Hawaii, Iceland, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Inner Mongolia, Iowa, Jamaica, Jawa, Kansas, Kentucky, Kermadec Is., KwaZulu-Natal, Louisiana, Maine, Manchuria, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Myanmar, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Newfoundland, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, Northern Provinces, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Queensland, Québec, Rhode I., Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Saskatchewan, South Australia, South Carolina, South Dakota, St.Helena, Svalbard, Tasmania, Tennessee, Texas, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vermont, Victoria, Vietnam, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Western Australia, Wisconsin, Yukon, Zimbabwe.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
The morphology follows Mouterde’s V. sativa account. He explicitly warns that some listed localities may belong to V. cordata. Kew now includes subsp. cordata within V. sativa, but these historical records do not establish a subspecies identification for the CMS plant.