Vicia cracca L.
tufted vetch
Scrambling perennial; stem moderately to densely clothed in mostly appressed hairs. Lvs densely clothed in appressed hairs above and below; tendrils branched at least in upper lvs; leaflets in c. 8-10 pairs, sometimes alternate, linear to ovate-oblong, 5-25 mm long; stipules entire or with 1, narrow, adaxial, basal lobe. Infl. > lvs, 10-45-flowered. Peduncle much > fls. Pedicel 1-2 mm long. Calyx slightly gibbous at base, moderately to densely hairy; calyx teeth very unequal; lower teeth ± = tube; upper teeth much < tube. Corolla blue to bluish purple, c. 8-12 mm long; limb of standard ± = claw. Pod glabrous, brown, 2-6-seeded, 16-26 mm long; seeds dark brown or mottled, 2-3 mm diam.; hilum 1/4-⅓ of circumference.
N.: collected once from Otaki (Wellington Province) and recorded from Palmerston North; S.: vicinity of Christchurch, Milton (Otago), and well-established in the vicinity of Invercargill, Riverton, and Bluff; St.: Halfmoon Bay.
W. and N. Europe to Asia 1899
Waste places.
FL Jan-Feb.
V. cracca is part of a group of not fully understood spp., but N.Z. naturalised material is fairly uniform and matches descriptions of V. cracca subsp. cracca. Within N.Z. the most similar naturalised vetch is V. villosa subsp. varia which has a longer corolla and strongly gibbous base to the calyx (Fig. 69).
