Fodder Vetch
Scientific name: Vicia villosa Roth
Diagnostic features
Scrambling or climbing annual to 2m.
Leaflets 4-12 pairs.
Tendrils branched.
Flowers 10-30, 10-20mm, blue to purple or violet, wings sometimes white or yellow.
Fruits 20-40mm, 2-8-seeded.
Chromosome number: (2n=14).
Habitat
Introduced-naturalized; in grassy places, tips, rough and waste ground, more often casual.
Distribution
Throughout much of Britain; Europe.
This species is keyed out on Page 2934 in the Text Key.
Note
Several subspecies, based on pubescence, flower number, size and colour, and calyx-teeth size, are often recognized; 5 have been recorded from Britain but are of doubtful taxonomic value. |
