Vicia lathyroides L.
spring vetch
Prostrate annual, often tufted; stems moderately to densely hairy. Lvs moderately hairy; tendrils simple or 0; leaflets in 1-3 pairs, ± opposite, elliptic-oblong to obovate, (3)-5-10-(15) mm long; stipules with 1, adaxial, basal lobe or dentate. Infl. much < lvs, 1-flowered. Peduncle much < fls. Pedicel 0.5-2 mm long. Calyx slightly gibbous at base; calyx teeth ± equal, ± = or < tube. Corolla purple, 5-8 mm long; limb of standard ± = claw. Pod glabrous, dark greyish brown, c. 7-10-seeded (rarely fewer), 15-25 mm long; seeds cubic, tuberculate, reddish brown; hilum c. 1/12 of circumference.
S.: locally common in lowland Canterbury, common in C. Otago.
Europe, Asia Minor, N.W. Africa 1981
Waste places, gardens, riverbeds, coastal sites, lawns, grassland.
FL Oct-Feb.
Spring vetch is distinguished by the few pairs of leaflets and solitary fls on short peduncles. The first naturalised collection appears to be that from Earnscleugh, C. Otago, 1949, and the sp. has been collected quite frequently since then in Otago and Canterbury, but, curiously, no published report of the sp. was made until 1980.
