Vicia bithynica (L.) L.
Bithynian Vetch
Bithynian vetch is a scrambling annual of the pea family, a scarce and local plant found mainly in southern England. It climbs or sprawls to around 60cm using branched tendrils at the leaf tips, and its leaves bear only a few pairs of comparatively broad leaflets.
About
Bithynian vetch is a scrambling annual of the pea family, a scarce and local plant found mainly in southern England. It climbs or sprawls to around 60cm using branched tendrils at the leaf tips, and its leaves bear only a few pairs of comparatively broad leaflets. The flowers are distinctly two-toned, with a reddish-purple upper petal set against paler, whitish wings, making it one of the more striking British vetches.
It flowers in late spring and early summer and turns up in rough grassy places, scrub, hedge banks, old railway lines and especially near the coast on cliffs and sea-banks, often on calcareous ground at the northern edge of its wider Mediterranean and western European range. As a legume it fixes nitrogen, and the flowers attract bees. Given its rarity and specialised habitat, it is a plant for specialist conservation sowings rather than everyday mixes.
Also known as
Bythinian Vetch
Synonyms
Arachus vicioides · Ervum bithynicum · Lathyrus barcinonensis · Lathyrus bithynicus · Lathyrus monocarpus · Lathyrus tumidus · Lathyrus turgidus · Vicia angulosa · Vicia bithynica major · Vicia bythynica · Vicia minuta
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