Anthyllis vulneraria
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''Anthyllis vulneraria'', the common kidneyvetch, kidney vetch or woundwort is a
medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...
native to Europe, northern Africa, and Western Asia. The name ''vulneraria'' means "wound healer".


Description

''Anthyllis vulneraria'' reaches in height. The stem is simple or more often branched. The leaves are imparipinnate, glabrous or with scattered hairs on the upper face and silky hairs on the underside. The flower heads are spherical in shape and long. The petals are yellow in most sub-species, but red in ''A. vulneraria'' var. ''coccinea''. Flowering takes place between June and September. The fruit is a legume. The fruits ripening takes place from July to October. Kidney vetch is the food plant of the small blue butterfly
larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
e and the
leaf miner A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths (Lepidoptera), sawflies (Symphyta, a paraphyletic group which ...
, '' Aproaerema anthyllidella''.


Distribution and habitat

This plant is sporadic throughout Europe, from
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to the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
, in Asia Minor up to
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, in North Africa and in
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. It is naturalized in North America. It prefers dry grasslands and rocky environments with
calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...
soil, up to in elevation.


Subspecies

This species includes numerous subspecies, with 47 accepted by ''
Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...
''. Some authors elevate these to the role of separate species. * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''abyssinica'' (Sagorski) Cullen – Eritrea and Ethiopia * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''ajmasiana'' – Morocco * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''alpestris'' (Kit.) Asch. et Gr. – European mountains * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''argyrophylla'' – southern Spain * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''arundana'' – southern Spain * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''baldensis'' (Sagorski) Pignatti ex Kerguélen – southwestern and southern Alps * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''balearica'' – Balearic Islands * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''boissieri'' – Crimean Peninsula, Caucasus, Turkey, and northern Iran * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''borealis'' – western Iceland * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''boscii'' – northwestern Spain and Pyrenees * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''bulgarica'' – Balkan Peninsula * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''busambarensis'' (Lojac.) Pign. – Sicily * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''carpatica'' (Pant.) Nyman – western and central Europe * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''colorata'' (Juz.) Tzvelev (synonym: ''Anthyllis colorata'' Juz.) – Baltic states, northwestern and central European Russia * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''corbierei'' – southwestern Great Britain, Channel Islands, northwestern France * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''danica'' – Denmark * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''dertosensis'' – Spain * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''fatmae'' – northern Morocco * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''forondae'' (Sennen) Cullen – northeastern Spain, Pyrenees, and southwestern Alps * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''fruticans'' – Morocco * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''gandogeri'' – Iberian Peninsula, Balearic Islands, and northern Morocco * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''guyotii'' – western Alps * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''hispidissima'' – north Macedonia, northeastern Greece, and Turkey * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''iberica'' (W.Becker) Jalas – coasts of Western Europe from Belgium to Portugal * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''iframensis'' – Morocco * ''A. vulneraria'' var. ''langei'' – coasts of Western Europe from Denmark to France and the British Isles * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''lapponica'' – British Isles, Scandinavia, Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, and northern and central Russia * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''maritima'' – southern Baltic coast to northern and central Russia * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''matris-filiae'' – southern and eastern Spain, northern Morocco * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''maura'' (Beck) Lindb. – North Africa, Iberian Peninsula, Italy and Sicily, Syria and Lebanon * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''microcephala'' – Spain * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''multifolia'' – Spain * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''nana'' – Italy (central Apennines) * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''pinidicola'' – Greece, Crete, and former Yugoslavia * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''polyphylla'' (D.C.) Nyman – France, Italy, Denmark, Central Europe, northern Balkan Peninsula, European Russia, Caucasus, and Turkey * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''polyphylla'' (D.C.) Nyman × ''affinis'' Brittinger ex Kerner * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''pseudoarundana'' – Morocco and southern and eastern Spain * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''pulchella'' (Vis.) Bornm. – southeastern Europe, Crimean Peninsula, Caucasus, and Turkey * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''rubriflora'' {{small, (DC.) Arcang. (synonym ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''praepropera'' (Kerner) Bornm.) – France and the Balearic Islands through southern Europe to Israel * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''saharae'' {{small, (Sagorski) Jahand. & Maire – Algeria and Morocco * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''subscaposa'' {{small, Cullen – Transcaucasus * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''valesiaca'' (Becker) Guyot – France, Italy, and Switzerland * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''variegata'' {{small, (Boiss. ex Beck) Bornm. – Caucasus to southern Turkey * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''versicolor'' {{small, (Dalla Torre & Sarnth.) Gutermann – Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and former Yugoslavia * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''vitellina'' {{small, (Velen.) Kuzmanov – Bulgaria * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''vulneraria'' L. – western and northern Europe to northern and eastern European Russia * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''vulnerarioides'' (All.) Arcang. – southwestern Alps, Pyrenees, and Corsica * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''vulnerarioides'' (All.) Arcang. × ''bonjeanii'' Beck * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''weldeniana'' (Rchb.) Cullen – northeastern Italy and northwestern Balkan Peninsula * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''weldeniana'' (Rchb.) Cullen × ''tricolor'' Vukot. * ''A. vulneraria'' subsp. ''weldeniana'' (Rchb.) Cullen × ''versicolor'' Sagorski


Gallery

Illustration_Anthyllis_vulneraria0.jpg, 1885 illustrationillustration from Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany Anthyllis vulneraria - Bombus sylvarum - Keila.jpg, Kidney vetch provides pollen and nectar for a wide range of insects, particularly bumblebees Fabaceae - Anthyllis vulneraria-2.JPG, Inflorescences Fabaceae - Anthyllis vulneraria-3.JPG, Leaves


References

{{Commons {{Reflist {{Taxonbar, from=Q126256 vulneraria Medicinal plants of Africa Medicinal plants of Asia Medicinal plants of Europe Flora of Europe Flora of North Africa Flora of Eritrea Flora of Ethiopia Flora of the Caucasus Flora of Western Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus