Herbs annual, sparsely pubes­cent. Stems sprawling or climb­ing, filiform, 1–5 dm. Leaves 1–4 cm; tendrils simple or branched; stipules much smaller than leaflets, semisagittate, without nectariferous patch; leaflets 4–12, blades oblanceolate or elliptic to linear, 6–20 × 1–5 mm, apex acute to apiculate, surfaces glabrous or sparsely villous. Inflorescences 1–3-flowered, 1–3 cm, equal to or longer than subtending leaf rachis. Flowers 3–6 mm; calyx base symmetric, lobes unequal, longer than or equal to tube; corolla light purple to pale lavender, banner stenonychioid, blade equal to claw, glabrous; style compressed abaxially, sparsely pubescent apically. Legumes yellow to light brown, oblong, 10–15 × 3–4 mm, tip rounded, stigma attached to center of curve, glabrous; stipe to 1 mm. Seeds 4, greenish gray to purplish black, subglobose, 1.5–2 mm diam.; hilum encircling 1/5–1/4 circumference of seed. 2n = 14.

Phenology: Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat: Fields, roadsides, waste areas, woodlands.
Elevation: 0–2000 m.

Distribution

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Introduced; St. Pierre and Miquelon, B.C., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Ala., Ark., Calif., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Europe, introduced also in s South America (Chile).

Discussion

Vicia tetrasperma var. tenuissima Druce in the sense of M. L. Fernald (1950), and listed as a separate variety of V. tetrasperma, is considered here and by D. Isely (1990) as a synonym of V. tetrasperma.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.