''Vicia tenuifolia'', the fine-leaved vetch and cow vetch, as well as fodder vetch and bramble vetch, is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

plant species in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

. This species grows widespread in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and some parts of both

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. In some other areas it occurs as an introduced species. In few countries this edible vetch is used in both human and farm animals nutrition.

Taxonomy

''Vicia tenuifolia'' was described by German botanist

Albrecht Wilhelm Roth Albrecht Wilhelm Roth (6 January 1757 – 16 October 1834) was a physician and botanist born in Dötlingen, Germany. He studied medicine at the Universities of Halle and Erlangen, where he received his doctorate in 1778. After graduation, he pra ...

in his work Tentamen florae germanicae in 1788. Some taxonomists treat this species as a subspecies of '' Vicia cracca'', while most recognize it as its own species. There are a few recognized subspecies: * ''Vicia tenuifolia'' subsp. ''atroviolacea'' ( Bornm.) Greuter & Burdet * ''Vicia tenuifolia'' subsp. ''delmasii'' (

Emb. (Marie) Louis Emberger (23 January 1897 – 30 November 1969) was a French botanist and phytogeographer, at the University of Montpellier. Life Emberger was born at Thann, in Haut-Rhin, France in 1897, which was then part of German occupied ...

& Maire) Dobignard * ''Vicia tenuifolia'' subsp. ''subalpina'' ( Grossh.) Zernov * ''Vicia tenuifolia'' subsp. ''tenuifolia'' * ''Vicia tenuifolia'' subsp. ''variabilis'' ( Freyn & Sint.) Dinsm. * ''Vicia tenuifolia'' subsp. ''villosa'' ( Batt.) Greuter

Description

This herbaceous and perennial

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

can reach from 30 to 150 centimetres of height. It is usually an upright-growing and spread out vetch with rough stem that is either hairless either hirsute. As many other Fabaceae species, ''Vicia tenuifolia'' is a

nitrogen-fixing Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen (), with a strong triple covalent bond, in the air is converted into ammonia () or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but also in industry. Atmos ...

plant. Its alternately arranged leaves are pinately compound and most of the times consist of 10–18 pairs of narrowly linear to

oblong An oblong is a non-square rectangle. Oblong may also refer to: Places * Oblong, Illinois, a village in the United States * Oblong Township, Crawford County, Illinois, United States * A strip of land on the New York-Connecticut border in the Unit ...

leaflets. Pinna can be both hirsute or hairless and usually measure from 2 to 6 millimetres. ''Vicia tenuifolia'' has so called

paripinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

leaves, that end with a split

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tendr ...

. Stipules are present; they are narrowly linear, with entire leaf margin and end with a sharpened point. The species is an entomophilous plant and flowers between June and August. ''Vicia tenuifolia'' has typical

bilaterally symmetrical Symmetry in biology refers to the symmetry observed in organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. External symmetry can be easily seen by just looking at an organism. For example, take the face of a human being which has a pla ...

papilionaceous flower, that consists of banner, keel and wing, with flower's

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s being red, pink or blueish purple. The biggest petal – so-called banner – is brighter than other petals, with its limb being as long as its claw. From 15 to 30 small flowers are arranged into an

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

inflorescence, that has long leafstalk (the latter is usually twice as long as the inflorescence). The flower's

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are fused together into a few millimetres long calyx tube that ends with 5 short calyx tooth. Each flower has 10 anthers; the latter are fused together till the last third of anther's length. This species' dried fruit is a brownish and hairless

that can measure from 3 to 5 centimetres. Layman can confuse ''Vicia grandiflora'' with similar vetch species '' Vicia dalmatica'', '' Vicia cracca'', '' Vicia incana'' and ''

Vicia villosa ''Vicia villosa'', known as the hairy vetch, fodder vetch or winter vetch, is a plant native to some of Europe and western Asia. It is a legume, grown as a forage crop, fodder crop, cover crop, and green manure. Although non-native, it occurs in ...

''.

Distribution and conservation

This vetch species is widely distributed across Europe (especially in Euro-Mediterranean region, south and central Europe) and occurs also in some parts of Asia (usually those that are either temperate either tropical, mostly southwestern and central Asia), as well as in northern Africa. In north-western Europe it is not a native species. ''Vicia tenuifolia'' was once introduced to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. In some parts species is treated as an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. ''Vicia tenuifolia'' usually grows in a diverse collection of various habitats, which include both natural and

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

s. This vetch is mostly inhabitant of lowlands, it can be found on dry meadows, forest edges, near paths, grassy banks, verges, waste grounds, as well as ruderal landscapes (for example railways). ''V. tenuifolia'' rarely occurs in highlands, with its maximum elevation being around 2,900 metres. This species is listed as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

(LC) species on the

IUCN Red list The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

, with its population being rated as stable.

Gallery

Vicia spp Sturm4.jpg Vicia tenuifolia Herbar.jpg Vicia tenuifolia 4.jpg Vicia tenuifolia 1.jpg Vicia tenuifolia (27260895200).jpg Vicia tenuifolia sl19.jpg Vicia dalmatica 140506.jpg Vicia tenuifolia sl15.jpg

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q161359 tenuifolia Flora of Europe Flora of Central Asia