Vicia narbonensis

Name/Όνομα:   Βίκια   η ναρπόνια*

Scientific name/Επιστημονικό όνομα:   Vicia narbonensis* L.

Common name/Κοινό όνομα:  Narbon vetch, Narbonne vetch, Narbon bean.

Family/Οικογένεια:   FABACEAE

* Η απόδοση του είδους στα Ελληνικά είναι εισήγηση του συγγραφέα.

Description

Plant:   Annual herb growing up to 60 cm high.

Stem/s:   Erect, stout, branched or unbranched, angled, green and hairy along the edges.

Leaves:    Alternate, compound, petiolate, stipulate, 2-6 pinnately foliolate; petiole channeled above, thinly ciliate; rachis angular, ciliate along the edges; leaflets opposite, rather large, simple and entire, ovate, obovate or elliptic thinly hairy on both surfaces, ± sessile, margins entire with minute cilia, apex apiculate, obtuse, base rounded; rachis terminates in one coiled tendril, but the plant does not need support; stipules semi sagittate or broadly ovate, margins rather distantly dentate and ciliate; basal leaves 2-foliolate without tendril, upper leaves 4-6 foliolate.

Flowers:   Zygomorphic and hermaphrodite, solitary or in pairs in axillary racemes; pedicels very short and thinly hairy; calyx cylindrical, 5-toothed, purplish and glabrous; teeth triangular, unequal and pointed, the lower longer, margins ciliate; petals 5, whitish with dark purple veins; standard petal glabrous, obovate and emarginated at apex, wings oblong, dark purple at the rounded apex, keel oblong with rounded apex; stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free, filaments united at the most of their length, anthers oblong and yellow; ovary superior, linear, style 1, hairy above, and strongly curved at right angle, stigma 1.

Flowering time:   February-May.

Fruit:   Dehiscent, oblong and flattened legume, with hairy margins and short curved beak, enclosing several, suborbicular brown seeds.

Habitat:   Roadsides, grassy areas, cultivated fields, 0-900 m alt.

Native:   Mediterranean region to Northwestern Asia.

narbonensis* =  from the city Narbonne or Narbon, in France.