Herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial, unarmed. Stems erect, sprawling, or climbing, angled, not winged, glabrous or pubescent, hairs unicellular, eglandular. Leaves alternate, even-pinnate; stipules present, persistent, inconspicuous or foliose, with or without nectariferous patch; rachis not winged, usually terminating in a simple or branched, sometimes mucronate, tendril; petiolate; leaflets 2–30, usually scattered, ptyxis conduplicate (except in some V. faba), blade margins entire or serrate, surfaces glabrous or pubescent. Inflorescences 2–50-flowered, axillary, racemes, flowers solitary, erect or lax; bracts and bracteoles absent. Flowers papilionaceous, chasmogamous or cleistogamous; calyx campanulate, symmetric or oblique, 2-lipped, base sometimes gibbous, lobes 5, equal or unequal, some or all lobes at least 1/2 as long as tube; corolla white, cream, yellow, rose, lilac, blue, purple, lavender, or violet, wings and keel often lighter than banner, 2–35 mm; stamens 10, diadelphous; anthers dorsifixed, uniform; ovary glabrous or pubescent; style terete or compressed abaxially or adaxially, not twisted, usually encircled with short hairs just proximal to stigma and/or apically tufted abaxially. Fruits legumes, sessile or stipitate, terete or flattened, oblong, oblong-falcate, linear, or elliptic, dehiscent, valves twisted after dehiscence, non-septate, margins usually obscure, splitting along both margins, glabrous, glabrate, or pubescent. Seeds 2–15, usually brown or black, often spherical, sometimes angular. x = 6, 7.

Distribution

North America, Mexico, s South America, Europe, Asia, n Africa, Mediterranean region, introduced in temperate regions worldwide.

Discussion

Species ca. 140 (25 in the flora).

F. K. Kupicha (1976) partitioned Vicia into two subgenera (subg. Vicia and subg. Vicilla) and 22 sections. Vicia species native to North America belong to subg. Vicilla (Schur) Rouy, which includes about 75% of all Vicia; nine of the 12 native Vicia are included in sect. Cracca Dumortier, which contains about 30% of all Vicia. Of the remaining native species, two [V. americana (sect. Americanae Kupicha), and V. leucophaea (sect. Mediocinctae Kupicha)] belong to monospecific sections; the third (V. nigricans) has been placed in sect. Cassubicae Radzhi, which includes another eight perennial European and Asian species. Vicia is pre­dom­inantly diploid with 2n = 12 or 14. Chromosome counts have been reported for five of the 12 species native to the flora area. There has been no worldwide treatment of the genus at the species level. Vicia in North America was last reviewed by F. J. Hermann (1960) and sum­marized by D. Isely (1998).

Recent phylogenetic studies (M. F. Wojciechowski et al. 2004) have placed Vicia consistently within the Vicieae as delimited by F. K. Kupicha (1981). The nearest sister group to the Vicieae appears to be Trifolium, but not directly other Trifolieae. Infra-generic relationships within Vicia continue to be explored (M. Leht 2005; Choi B. et al. 2006; Y. Endo et al. 2008; H. Schaefer et al. 2012).

Of the 13 Vicia species introduced to North America, seven probably arrived as agricultural crops and have become locally established to widely naturalized. Agricultural interest in Vicia species has stimulated extensive work on seeds and seedling morphology (F. J. Hermann 1960; C. R. Gunn 1970b; C. N. Nozzolillo 1977; J. S. Lassetter 1978). Seed descriptions reported here are (mostly) from Hermann.

Banner blade and styler morphology have become important indicators of intrageneric relationships within Vicia (F. K. Kupicha 1976; Choi B. et al. 2006; Y. Endo et al. 2008). Banner petals can be oblong (blade and claw of nearly equal width), pandurate (blade and claw of nearly equal width and with constriction between), or stenonychioid (blade notably wider than the claw).

Styles can be terete in cross section, compressed abaxially (perpendicular to the axis of the ovary) or compressed adaxially (parallel to the axis of the ovary). Abaxially compressed styles can be uniformly pubescent near the stigma or tufted with longer hairs adaxially. Descriptions reported here are from F. K. Kupicha 1976, Choi B. et al. 2006, or personal observation.

Unless otherwise noted, the length of leaves listed herein includes petiole and rachis but not tendrils; inflorescence length includes peduncle and raceme at mid flowering; and flower length includes distance from base of calyx to distal margins of wing petals.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Vicia acutifolia, Vicia americana, Vicia benghalensis, Vicia caroliniana, Vicia cracca, Vicia disperma, Vicia faba, Vicia floridana, Vicia grandiflora, Vicia hassei, Vicia hirsuta, Vicia lathyroides, Vicia leucophaea, Vicia ludoviciana, Vicia lutea, Vicia minutiflora, Vicia narbonensis, Vicia nigricans, Vicia ocalensis, Vicia pannonica, Vicia pulchella, Vicia sativa, Vicia sepium, Vicia tetrasperma, Vicia villosa

Key

1	Stipules with nectariferous patch abaxially; inflorescences 2–7-flowered, to 1 cm or flowers solitary, shorter than subtending leaf rachis [subg. Vicia].	> 2
2	Stipules much smaller than leaflets.	Vicia sepium
2	Stipules foliose, approaching leaflets in size.	> 3
3	Calyx lobes equal or subequal.	> 4
4	Flowers 5–8 mm.	Vicia lathyroides
4	Flowers 10–35 mm.	> 5
5	Calyx lobes ± equal to tube; corollas violet-purple, lavender, or whitish.	Vicia sativa
5	Calyx lobes shorter than tube; corollas yellow suffused with violet.	Vicia grandiflora
3	Calyx lobes unequal.	> 6
6	Herbs stout; calyx lobes longer than tube.	> 7
7	Leaflet surfaces glabrous; tendrils absent.	Vicia faba
7	Leaflet surfaces sparsely pubescent; tendrils simple or branched.	Vicia narbonensis
6	Herbs usually slender or robust; abaxial calyx lobes subequal to tube.	> 8
8	Banners glabrous; corollas pale to bright yellow.	Vicia lutea
8	Banners pubescent adaxially; corollas cream, sometimes with purplish tinge.	Vicia pannonica
1	Stipules without nectariferous patch; inflorescences 2–50-flowered, 1–25 cm, or flowers solitary, somewhat shorter, equaling, or exceeding subtending leaf rachis [subg. Vicilla].	> 9
9	Leaflets 16–30; flowers 15–25 mm, banners oblong.	Vicia nigricans
9	Leaflets (2–)4–18(–24); flowers 2–18(–25) mm, banners oblong, pandurate, or stenonychioid.	> 10
10	Banners oblong or stenonychioid; calyx base symmetric; styles terete or compressed abaxially.	> 11
11	Herbs annual; flowers 2–6 mm.	> 12
12	Legumes hirsute, tip oblique.	Vicia hirsuta
12	Legumes glabrous, tip rounded, style attached to center of curve.	Vicia tetrasperma
11	Herbs perennial; flowers 7–25 mm.	> 13
13	Leaflets 8–18, blade surfaces glabrous or finely pubescent; inflorescences 3–9-flowered; flowers 12–25 mm, styles abaxially compressed.	Vicia americana
13	Leaflets 6–8, blade surfaces long-villous abaxially, glabrous adaxially; inflorescences 2-flowered or flowers solitary; flowers 7–9 mm, styles terete.	Vicia leucophaea
10	Banners pandurate; calyx base symmetric or gibbous; styles compressed adaxially.	> 14
14	Flowers 8–18 mm.	> 15
15	Leaflets (2 or)4(or 6); inflorescences 5–10-flowered; flowers 8–12 mm.	Vicia ocalensis
15	Leaflets 10–24; inflorescences (2–)7–50-flowered; flowers 8–18 mm.	> 16
16	Herbs perennial; calyx base symmetric or slightly gibbous; banners equal to or longer than claws; legumes 4–8 mm diam.	> 17
17	Stipules semisagittate; corollas usually blue-violet or purple, some­times lilac or whitish; calyx lobes unequal.	Vicia cracca
17	Stipules ligulate; corollas white with blue tip; calyx lobes subequal.	Vicia caroliniana
16	Herbs annual or biennial; calyx base gibbous; banners 1/2 length or equal to claws; legumes 6–12 mm diam.	> 18
18	Legumes glabrous; widely distributed.	Vicia villosa
18	Legumes densely villous; California.	Vicia benghalensis
14	Flowers 2–12 mm.	> 19
19	Proximal leaves with 2–8 leaflets; longest calyx lobes usually shorter than tube.	> 20
20	Herbs annual; inflorescences 1- or 2-flowered.	> 21
21	Legumes reddish brown, narrowly oblong-falcate, 15–30 × 4–5 mm, apiculate, glabrous; stipe absent.	Vicia minutiflora
21	Legumes tawny, oblong, 22–38 × 5–7 mm, oblique-tipped, strongly reticulate-veined, glabrous or finely pubescent; stipe to 2–3 mm.	Vicia hassei
20	Herbs perennial; inflorescences 2–10-flowered.	> 22
22	Legumes 8–15 mm; flowers 2–5 mm; leaflets 7–18 mm.	Vicia floridana
22	Legumes 20–45 mm; flowers 6–12 mm; leaflets 15–40 mm.	> 23
23	Legumes 20–25 mm; flowers 6–8 mm; leaflets 15–30 mm.	Vicia acutifolia
23	Legumes 40–45 mm; flowers 8–12 mm; leaflets 30–40 mm.	Vicia ocalensis
19	Proximal leaves with 7–24 leaflets; longest calyx lobes equal to or longer than tube.	> 24
24	Herbs annual; stipules semisagittate; corollas blue to bluish purple or pink­ish white to light lavender.	> 25
25	Legumes 12–16 mm; banner blade 2 times length of claw; leaflets 12–20.	Vicia disperma
25	Legumes 15–38 mm; banner blade equal to or less than 2 times longer than claw; leaflets 7–14.	Vicia ludoviciana
24	Herbs perennial; stipules ligulate; corollas white to cream-white with blue to purple tip.	> 26
26	Flowers 8–12 mm; e Texas to Atlantic coast and Great Lakes.	Vicia caroliniana
26	Flowers 4–7 mm; Arizona, New Mexico.	Vicia pulchella