Common name: Russian Vetch
Vicia villosa Roth APNI* Description: Trailing or climbing herb; stems villous to pubescent to glabrous.
Leaves 5–11 cm long; leaflets 8–24, oblong-elliptic, 5–30 mm long, 2–8 mm wide, apex shortly mucronate, pubescent to glabrous; stipules entire, c. 8 mm long.
Racemes 2–30-flowered, rarely flowers solitary; peduncle 2.5–7 cm long. Calyx c. 10 mm long, teeth unequal. Corolla 10–20 mm long, violet-blue, sometimes with white or yellow wings.
Pod 2–4 cm long, 6–12 mm wide, brown, glabrous or pubescent; seeds 2–8, globose, 3–4 mm wide.
Flowering: winter–spring.
Distribution and occurrence: Native of Eur.
NSW subdivisions: *CC, *ST, *NWS, *CWS, *SWS, *NWP
Several subspecies have been separated, though only 2 are known to occur in Aust., a third, subsp. dasycarpa (Ten.) Cav. may be cultivated, but has not been recorded as naturalized. It can be distinguished from subsp. eriocarpa by the glabrous pods.
Text by C. Gardner & T. A. James
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 2 (1991)
| | Key to the subspecies | |
| 1 | Stems with dense spreading hairs; stipules 2–5 mm wide; lower calyx teeth as long as or longer than calyx tube; pods glabrous. Leaflets mostly 10–35 mm long, 2–8 mm wide. | subsp. villosa |
| Stems appressed-hairy to ± glabrous; stipules <3 mm wide; lower calyx teeth shorter than calyx tube; pods pubescent. Leaflets mostly 5–15 mm long, 1–5 mm wide. | subsp. eriocarpa |
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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