Flora of New Zealand Series

hairy vetch

Slender scrambling annual; stem ± glabrous to sparsely hairy. Lvs sparsely to moderately hairy; tendrils usually branched; leaflets in c. 5-9 pairs, often alternate, linear to ovate-oblong, 5-18-(20) mm long; stipules entire or with 1-3, narrow, adaxial, basal lobes. Infl. ± = or < lvs, (2)-3-7-(9)-flowered. Peduncle much > fls. Peduncle 0-1-(2) mm long. Calyx not gibbous at base; calyx teeth ± equal, = or > tube. Corolla dull white or pale blue with purple spots on keel, c. 4 mm long; limb of standard < or ± = claw. Pod moderately to densely hairy, black, (1)-2-seeded, 8-11 mm long; seeds yellowish with purple blotches turning reddish brown; hilum ⅓ of circumference.

N.: scattered localities throughout, particularly common in Wellington Province from Palmerston North to Wellington City; S.: common throughout Nelson, Marlborough, N. Westland, Canterbury, Otago, also collected from Bluff; Ch.

Europe, W. Asia, N. Africa 1867

Riverbeds, waste places, cultivated land, coastal sands and gravels.

FL Sep-Apr.

V. hirsuta is distinguished from all other vetches naturalised in N.Z. by the 2-seeded hairy pods, and small bluish fls arranged in long-pedunculate racemes.