Vicia

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Vicia
Vicia orobus1 eF.jpg
Vicia orobus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Tribe: Fabeae
Genus: Vicia
L. (1753)
Type species
Faba sativa
Species [1]

247; see text

Synonyms [1]
  • AbacosaAlef. (1861)
  • Anatropostylia(Plitmann) Kupicha (1973)
  • ArachusMedik. (1787)
  • AtossaAlef. (1861)
  • BonaMedik (1787)
  • CoppoleriaTod. (1845)
  • CraccaMedik. (1787) nom. illeg.
  • CujuniaAlef. (1861)
  • EndiusaAlef. (1859)
  • EndusiaBenth. and Hook f. (1865) [2]
  • ErviliaLink (1822)
  • ErvumTourn. ex L. (1753)
  • FabaAdans. (1763) [2]
  • FabaMill. (1754)
  • HypechusaAlef. (1860)
  • LensMill. (1754)
  • LentillaW.Wight (1909)
  • OrobellaC.Presl (1837)
  • ParallosaAlef. (1859)
  • RhynchiumDulac (1867)
  • SelluniaAlef. (1859)
  • SwantiaAlef. (1859)
  • TuaminaAlef. (1861)
  • VicillaSchur (1866)
  • ViciodesMoench (1794)
  • WiggersiaGaertn. (1801)

Vicia is a genus of over 240 species of flowering plants that are part of the legume family (Fabaceae), and which are commonly known as vetches. Member species are native to Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. Some other genera of their subfamily Faboideae also have names containing "vetch", for example the vetchlings ( Lathyrus ) or the milk-vetches ( Astragalus ). The lentils are included in genus Vicia, and were formerly classified in genus Lens. [3] The broad bean ( Vicia faba ) is sometimes separated in a monotypic genus Faba; although not often used today, it is of historical importance in plant taxonomy as the namesake of the order Fabales, the Fabaceae and the Faboideae. The tribe Vicieae in which the vetches are placed is named after the genus' current name. The true peas ( Pisum ) are among the closest living relatives of vetches.

Contents

Use by humans

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"Grains of puyr "
in hieroglyphs

Bitter vetch ( V. ervilia ) was one of the first domesticated crops. It was grown in the Near East about 9,500 years ago, starting perhaps even one or two millennia earlier during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A. By the time of the Central European Linear Pottery culture – about 7,000 years ago – broad bean ( V. faba ) had also been domesticated. Vetch has been found at Neolithic and Eneolithic sites in Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia. [4] And at the same time, at the opposite end of Eurasia, the Hoabinhian people also utilized the broad bean in their path towards agriculture, as shown by the seeds found in Spirit Cave, Thailand. [5]

Bernard of Clairvaux shared a bread-of-vetch meal with his monks during the famine of 1124 to 1126, as an emblem of humility. [Note 1] However, the bitter vetch largely was dropped from human use over time. It was only used to save as a crop of last resort in times of starvation: vetches "featured in the frugal diet of the poor until the eighteenth century, and even reappeared on the black market in the South of France during the Second World War", Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, of Marseillais background, has remarked. [7] However, broad beans remained prominent. In the Near East the seeds are mentioned in Hittite and Ancient Egyptian sources dating from more than 3,000 years ago as well as in the Christian Bible, [Note 2] and in the large Celtic Oppidum of Manching from the La Tène culture in Europe some 2,200 years ago. Dishes resembling ful medames are attested in the Jerusalem Talmud which was compiled before 400 AD.

Worldwide vetch yield VetchYield.png
Worldwide vetch yield
Hungarian vetch (V. pannonica) is often grown for forage. Vicia pannonica2 W.jpg
Hungarian vetch ( V. pannonica ) is often grown for forage.

In our time, the common vetch ( V. sativa ) has also risen to prominence. Together with broad bean cultivars such as horse bean or field bean, the FAO includes it among the 11 most important pulses in the world. The main usage of the common vetch is as forage for ruminant animals, both as fodder and legume, but there are other uses, as tufted vetch V. cracca is grown as a mid-summer pollen source for honeybees.

In 2017, global production of vetches was 920,537 tonnes. [8] That year, 560,077 acres were devoted to the cultivation of vetches in the world. Over 54% of that output came from Europe alone. Africa (17.8% of world total), Asia (15.6% of world total), Americas (10.6% of world total) and Oceania (1.8% of world total). [14]

The bitter vetch, too, is grown extensively for forage and fodder, as are hairy vetch ( V. villosa , also called fodder vetch), bard vetch ( V. articulata ), French vetch ( V. serratifolia ) and Narbon bean ( V. narbonensis ). V. benghalensis and Hungarian vetch ( V. pannonica ) are cultivated for forage and green manure.

4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid (4-Cl-IAA), a phytohormone found in several vetches 4-chloroindole-3-acetic acid.png
4-Chloroindole-3-acetic acid (4-Cl-IAA), a phytohormone found in several vetches

The vetches also have a broad variety of other purposes. The Hairy Vetch has well-established uses as a green manure and as an allelopathic cover crop. As regards the broad bean, it is known to accumulate aluminum in its tissue; in polluted soils it may be useful in phytoremediation, but with one per mil of aluminum in the dry plant (possibly more in the seeds), it might not be edible anymore. The robust plants are useful as a beetle bank to provide habitat and shelter for carnivorous beetles and other arthropods to keep down pest invertebrates. When the root nodules of broad bean are inoculated with the rhodospirillacean bacterium Azospirillum brasilense and the glomeracean fungus Glomus clarum , the species can also be productively grown in salty soils. [9] [10] [11] In the 1980s, the auxin 4-Cl-IAA was studied in V. amurensis and the broad bean, [12] [13] and since 1990, the antibacterial γ-thionins fabatin-1 and -2 have been isolated from the latter species.

Despite a small chromosome count of n=6, the broad bean has a high DNA content, making it easy for a micronucleus test of its root tips to recognize genotoxic compounds. A lectin from V. graminea is used to test for the medically significant N blood group.

Toxicity

Molecular structure of leucoagglutinin, a toxic phytohemagglutinin found in raw Vicia faba Phytohemagglutinin L.png
Molecular structure of leucoagglutinin, a toxic phytohemagglutinin found in raw Vicia faba

The vetches grown as forage are generally toxic to non-ruminants (such as humans), at least if eaten in quantity. Cattle and horses have been poisoned by V. villosa and V. benghalensis, two species that contain canavanine in their seeds. Canavanine, a toxic analogue of the amino acid arginine, has been identified in Hairy Vetch as an appetite suppressant for monogastric animals, while Narbon bean contains the quicker-acting but weaker γ-glutamyl-S-ethenylcysteine. [14] In common vetch, γ-glutamyl-β-cyanoalanine has been found. The active part of this molecule is β-cyanoalanine. It inhibits the conversion of the sulfur amino acid methionine to cysteine.

Cystathionine, an intermediary product of this biochemical pathway, is secreted in urine. [15] This process can effectively lead to the depletion of vital protective reserves of the sulfur amino acid cysteine and thereby making Vicia sativa seed a dangerous component in mixture with other toxin sources. The Spanish pulse mix comuña contains common vetch and bitter vetch in addition to vetchling ( Lathyrus cicera ) seeds; it can be fed in small quantities to ruminants, but its use as a staple food will cause lathyrism even in these animals. Moreover, common vetch as well as broad bean – and probably other species of Vicia too – contain oxidants like convicine, isouramil, divicine and vicine in quantities sufficient to lower glutathione levels in G6PD-deficient persons to cause favism disease. At least broad beans also contain the lectin phytohemagglutinin and are somewhat poisonous if eaten raw. Split common vetch seeds resemble split red lentils (Lens culinaris), and has been occasionally mislabelled as such by exporters or importers to be sold for human consumption. In some countries where lentils are highly popular – e.g., Bangladesh, Egypt, India and Pakistan – import bans on suspect produce have been established to prevent these potentially harmful scams. [14] [16]

Ecology

The branched tendrils of black vetch (V. nigricans) help to distinguish it from other species. Vicia nigricans 4998.JPG
The branched tendrils of black vetch ( V. nigricans ) help to distinguish it from other species.

Vetches have cylindrical root nodules of the indeterminate type and are thus nitrogen-fixing plants. Their flowers usually have white to purple or blue hues, but may be red or yellow; they are pollinated by bumblebees, honey bees, solitary bees and other insects.

Vicia species are used as food plants by the caterpillars of some butterflies and moths, such as:

Most other parasites and plant pathogens affecting vetches have been recorded on the broad bean, the most widely cultivated and economically significant species. They include the mite Balaustium vignae whose adults are found on broad bean, the potexviruses Alternanthera mosaic virus, clover yellow mosaic virus and white clover mosaic virus, and several other virus species such as Bidens mosaic virus, tobacco streak virus, Vicia cryptic virus and Vicia faba endornavirus.

Selected species

Vicia amoena Vicia amoena 2.jpg
Vicia amoena
Kashubian (Danzig) vetch (V. cassubica) Vicia cassubica W.jpg
Kashubian (Danzig) vetch ( V. cassubica )
Vicia grandiflora Vicia grandiflora W.jpg
Vicia grandiflora
Pea-flowered vetch (V. pisiformis) Vicia pisiformis3 W.jpg
Pea-flowered vetch ( V. pisiformis )
Vicia tenuifolia ssp. dalmatica Vicia dalmatica 150606b.jpg
Vicia tenuifolia ssp. dalmatica

Plants formerly placed in Vicia include:

Etymology

Vicia means 'binder' in Latin; this was the name used by Pliny for vetch. [18]

The vetch is also referenced by Horace in his account of 'The town mouse and country mouse' as ervum. [19] This is said to be a source of comfort for the country mouse after a disturbing insight into urban life.

Notes

  1. "Their bread like the prophets of old, was made of barley, millet and vetch and was of such miserable quality that once a visiting monk, lamenting sadly their plight, took away with him some of what had been set before him in the guest-house, that he might show to everybody the marvel of men, and such men, living on the like." (Vita Prima I.v.25, quoted in Williams (1952), p. 24). [6]
  2. Usually translated simply as "beans"; the green beans ( Phaseolus ) are native to the Americas and were unknown in Europe before about 1500 AD.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lentil</span> Species of flowering plant with edible seeds in the family Fabaceae

The lentil is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about 40 cm (16 in) tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest producers are Canada and India, producing 29% and 27%, respectively, of the world's total lentils in 2021.

<i>Vicia sativa</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Vicia sativa, known as the common vetch, garden vetch, tare or simply vetch, is a nitrogen-fixing leguminous plant in the family Fabaceae. It is now naturalised throughout the world occurring on every continent, except Antarctica and the Arctic. The centre of diversity is thought to be the Fertile Crescent, although gold standard molecular confirmation is currently not available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forage</span> Plant material eaten by grazing livestock

Forage is a plant material eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage.

<i>Vicia faba</i> Species of plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae

Vicia faba, commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Varieties with smaller, harder seeds that are fed to horses or other animals are called field bean, tic bean or tick bean. Horse bean, Vicia faba var. equinaPers., is a variety recognized as an accepted name. This legume is very common in Southern European, Northern European, East Asian, Latin American and North African cuisines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legume</span> Plant in the family Fabaceae

A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae, 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 forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, grass peas, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides.

<i>Vicia cracca</i> Species of legume

Vicia cracca, is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia. It occurs on other continents as an introduced species, including North America, where it is a common weed. It often occurs in disturbed habitats, including old fields and roadside ditches.

<i>Vicia ervilia</i> Species of ancient Mediterranean legume crop

Vicia ervilia, called ervil or bitter vetch, is an ancient legume crop of the Mediterranean region. Besides the English names, other common names include: gavdaneh (Persian), kersannah (Arabic), yero (Spanish), rovi (Greek), and burçak (Turkish). The nutritional value of the grain for ruminant cattle has guaranteed the species' continued cultivation in Morocco, Spain and Turkey. The crop is easy to cultivate and harvest and can be grown on very shallow, alkaline soils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vicine</span> Chemical compound

Vicine is an alkaloid glycoside found mainly in fava beans, which are also called broad beans. Vicine is toxic in individuals who have a hereditary loss of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. It causes haemolytic anaemia, called favism. The formation of vicine in Vicia faba has been studied, but this natural formation has not yet been found.

<i>Vicia villosa</i> Species of legume

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 all US states and is considered invasive by some states, such as Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington state — as well as in Japan and some parts of Europe where it is not native. It is also found in most Canadian provinces.

<i>Vicia hirsuta</i> Species of legume

Vicia hirsuta is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae.

<i>Vicia tetrasperma</i> Species of legume

Vicia tetrasperma the smooth tare, smooth vetch, lentil vetch or sparrow vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae.

<i>Vicia sepium</i> Species of legume

Vicia sepium or bush vetch is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. A nitrogen-fixing, perennial, leguminous climbing plant that grows in hedgerows, grasslands, the edges of woodland, roadsides and rough ground. It occurs in western Europe, Crimea of Ukraine, Russia including Siberia, Caucasus and Central Asia. It can also be found in eastern Canada, north-eastern states of the USA and, where suitable habitat occurs, in Greenland. It is native to, and has been recorded in, almost all parts of Britain, Ireland and associated islands.

Bean yellow mosaic virus is a plant pathogenic virus in the genus Potyvirus and the virus family Potyviridae. Like other members of the Potyvirus genus, it is a monopartite strand of positive-sense, single-stranded RNA surrounded by a capsid made for a single viral encoded protein. The virus is a filamentous particle that measures about 750 nm in length. This virus is transmitted by species of aphids and by mechanical inoculation.

<i>Vicia benghalensis</i> Species of legume

Vicia benghalensis is a species of vetch known by the common names purple vetch and reddish tufted vetch. It is native to southern Europe, North Africa, and nearby islands, and it is utilized elsewhere in agriculture and may be present in the wild as an introduced species. It is an annual herb with a climbing stem which is coated in hairs, often densely, making the plant appear silvery white. Each leaf is made up of several pairs of elongated leaflets which measure up to 3 centimeters in length. The inflorescence is a one-side raceme of several dark reddish purple flowers. Each flower has a densely hairy calyx of sepals and a tubular corolla between one and two centimeters in length. The fruit is a flat, hairy legume pod up to 3.5 centimeters long containing multiple seeds.

<i>Vicia orobus</i> Species of legume

Vicia orobus is a species of leguminous plant in the genus Vicia, known as wood bitter-vetch. It is found in Atlantic areas of Europe, especially in the rocky edges of seasonally-grazed fields. It grows up to 60 cm (24 in) tall, and has no tendrils at the ends of its pinnate leaves. Its flowers are white with purple veins, and are borne in groups of 6 or more.

Broad bean true mosaic virus is a virus first described in 1953 that affects legumes, commonly found in crops of broad bean in both Europe and Northwest Africa. There are no known vectors, although it has been known to transverse long distances between crops. Infection via seed is common, though the virus is also present in sap.

<i>Bruchus</i> Genus of beetles

Bruchus is a genus of beetles in the leaf beetle family, Chrysomelidae. They are distributed mainly in the Palearctic, especially in Europe. Several occur in other parts of the world, such as North America, Africa, and Australia, as introduced species. Several species are notorious agricultural pests.

<i>Vicia narbonensis</i> Species of plant in the genus Vicia

Vicia narbonensis, called Narbon bean, Narbon vetch, Narbonne vetch and moor's pea, is a widely distributed species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Madeira and the Mediterranean countries through to Central Asia and the western Himalayas, and has been introduced to central and eastern Europe, and scattered other locations. It has some palatability issues, but has potential as a green manure and forage crop, and for its beans. It is the namesake of the Vicia narbonensis species complex.

<i>Vicia bithynica</i> Species of flowering plant

Vicia bithynica known as Bithynian vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus, initially as Lathyrus bithynicus but later moved to the genus Vicia (vetches). The specific name is derived from Bithynia, an ancient kingdom situated on the north coast of Anatolia, in modern day Turkey.

References

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  3. Lens Mill. Plants of the World Online . Retrieved 3 September 2023.
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  5. Chester F. Gorman (1969). "Hoabinhian: a pebble tool complex with early plant associations in Southeast Asia". Science . 163 (3868): 671–673. Bibcode:1969Sci...163..671G. doi:10.1126/science.163.3868.671. PMID   17742735. S2CID   34052655.
  6. Watkin Wynn Williams (1952). Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Manchester University Press.
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  8. Citation error. See inline comment how to fix. [ verification needed ]
  9. L. Lehle & W. Tanner (1973). "The function of myo-inositol in the biosynthesis of raffinose – purification and characterization of galactinol: sucrose 6-galactosyltransferase from Vicia faba seeds". European Journal of Biochemistry . 38 (1): 103–110. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1973.tb03039.x . PMID   4774118.
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  12. Tanja Pless; Michael Boettger; Peter Hedden & Jan Graebe (1984). "Occurrence of 4-Cl-indoleacetic acid in broad beans and correlation of its levels with seed development" (PDF). Plant Physiology . 74 (2): 320–323. doi:10.1104/pp.74.2.320. PMC   1066676 . PMID   16663416.
  13. Masato Katayama; Singanallore V. Thiruvikraman & Shingo Marumo (1987). "Identification of 4-chloroindole-3-acetic acid and its methyl ester in immature seeds of Vicia amurensis (the tribe Vicieae), and their absence from three species of Phaseoleae" (PDF). Plant and Cell Physiology . 28 (2): 383–386.
  14. 1 2 D. Enneking (1994). The toxicity of Vicia species and their utilisation as grain legumes (PDF) (Ph.D. (Ag.Sc.) thesis). University of Adelaide.
  15. Charlotte Ressler; Jeanne Nelson & Morris Pfeffer (1964). "A pyridoxal-β-cyanoalanine relation in the rat". Nature . 203 (4951): 1286–1287. Bibcode:1964Natur.203.1286R. doi:10.1038/2031286a0. PMID   14230211. S2CID   39261988.
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  19. Satires II.6, 117