Flora of New Zealand Series

smooth tare

Slender scrambling annual; stem sparsely hairy. Lvs moderately hairy; tendrils simple or branched; leaflets in 2-5 pairs, often alternate, linear to narrowly elliptic-oblong, 5-20 mm long; stipules with 1, adaxial, basal lobe, rarely entire. Infl. ± = lvs, 1-2-(4)- flowered. Peduncle much > fls. Pedicel 1-3 mm long. Calyx not gibbous at base; calyx teeth unequal; lower teeth just < tube; upper teeth much < tube. Corolla white and tinged pale blue to pale purple, 3-6 mm long; limb of standard = or > claw. Pod glabrous, brown, (2)-3-5-seeded, 10-15 mm long; seeds greenish with purple blotches turning deep reddish brown or brown; hilum ⅙-⅕ of circumference.

N.: locally common throughout but not collected from Taranaki or Hawke's Bay; S.: locally common in Marlborough and Canterbury, Otago, also collected from Hokitika and Invercargill; Ch.

Europe to S.W. Asia, N. Africa 1867

Waste places, gardens, grassland, forest margins, riverbeds.

FL Oct-May.

Smooth tare is distinguished from the other naturalised small-flowered vetches, V. disperma and V. hirsuta, by the fewer pairs of leaflets, few-flowered infls, and 3-5-seeded pods. The sp. has been previously recorded in N.Z. as V. gemella.