Herbs perennial. Stems few, sprawling or climbing, slender, 2–15 dm. Leaves 2–6 cm; ten­drils simple or branched; stip­ules much smaller than leaflets, semisagittate, without nectarif­erous patch; leaflets (2 or)4(or 6), blades narrowly lanceolate to linear, 15–30 × 1–5 mm, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous or sparsely long-pubescent. Inflorescences 4–10-flowered, 2–7 cm, longer than sub­tending leaf rachis. Flowers 6–8 mm; calyx base sym­metric, lobes unequal, longest one shorter than tube; corolla pale blue or lavender to white, banner pandurate, blade subequal to claw, glabrous; style compressed adaxially, evenly pubescent apically. Legumes brown to black, linear-oblong, 20–25 × 4–6 mm, oblique-tipped, sparsely long-pubescent; stipe to 1–2 mm. Seeds 4–8, purplish black, compressed-globose, 2–2.5 mm diam.; hilum encircling 2/3 circumference of seed.

Phenology: Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat: Wet woodlands, margins of swamps, wet ditches, sandy soils.
Elevation: 0–100 m.

Distribution

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Fla., Ga., S.C.

Discussion

Typical Vicia acutifolia has four leaflets. Populations in the northern part of its range in Georgia and South Carolina sometimes have six somewhat broader leaflets, which may indicate intergradation with V. caroliniana (D. Isely 1990). Vicia acutifolia differs from V. floridana in its longer fruits, flowers, leaflets, and inflorescences.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.