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 likely native to North Africa, Western Asia and Europe, but is now naturalized in temperate and subtropical regions worldwide. Although considered a weed when found growing in a cultivated grainfield, this hardy plant is often grown as a green manure, livestock fodder or rotation crop. More than 500,000 hectares per year of Vicia sativa is grown in Australia.
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.
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.
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.
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 broad bean 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. Among the closest living relatives of vetches are the lentils (Lens) and the true peas (Pisum).
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.
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.
Lathyrus aphaca, known as the yellow pea or yellow vetchling, is an annual species in the family Fabaceae with yellow flowers and solitary, pea-like fruits. It originated in the Middle East and has spread throughout Europe and beyond as a weed of cultivated fields and roadsides. The fruits are eaten as a supplement to diets in some parts of South Asia but are narcotic and potentially toxic in large quantities.
Vicia hirsuta is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae.
Vicia tetrasperma the smooth tare, smooth vetch, lentil vetch or sparrow vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It can be invasive.
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, Russia including Siberia, Crimea, 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.
Vicia sylvatica, known as wood vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus.
Vicia lathyroides is a plant species in the bean family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe and western Asia, and it is known on other continents as an introduced species. It is an annual herb with pealike blue- or purple-tinged flowers about half a centimeter wide and hairless legume pods up to 3 centimeters long.
Lathyrus linifolius is a species of pea, commonly called bitter vetch or heath pea. The name bitter vetch is also sometimes used for Vicia ervilia and also for Vicia orobus. The tubers of Lathyrus linifolius were formerly used as an appetite suppressant in medieval Scotland, and this use has brought the plant to recent medical attention. Attempts are being made to cultivate the plant on a commercial scale.
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.
Vicia menziesii is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name Hawaiian vetch. It is endemic to Hawaii, where it is known only from the island of Hawaii. It is threatened by habitat loss and exotic plants. It has been federally listed as an endangered species of the United States since 1978. It was the first Hawaiian plant to be placed on the Endangered Species List.
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.
Astragalus danicus, known as purple milk-vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae (legumes), which is native to Europe.
Vicia canescens is a species of legume in the vetch genus that is endemic to Lebanon.
Vicia grandiflora, commonly known as large yellow vetch and bigflower vetch, as well as large-flowered vetch, is a common herbaceous plant species in the family Fabaceae, which occurs as a native plant species in Europe and Asia, as well as an introduced vetch species in North America.
