W203 

 (leaf 2) 

 VETCHES (Vi'cia spp.) 



The genus Vicia belongs to the pea family (Leguminpsae, or 

 Fabaceae) and consists of annual or perennial herbs, the majority of 

 which climb by means of tendrils terminating the pinnately divided 

 leaves. Vicia is the classical Latin name for vetch. The genus is a 

 large one and has a wide geographical distribution in the Northern 

 Hemisphere, as well as in southern and western South America. 

 About 22 native species and 4 species naturalized from the Old 

 World occur on western ranges. The vetches are of considerable 

 economic importance, since practically all are palatable to domestic 

 livestock; a number of them are grown as fodder plants, others for 

 their edible seeds, and a few (such as scarlet vetch, V. fulgens) occa- 

 sionally are cultivated as ornamentals. Although the native range 

 species occur in only moderate abundance, many of them are wide- 

 spread, and their herbage is, as a rule, highly palatable throughout 

 the growing season to all classes of livestock, especially sheep. Giant 

 vetch (F. ffigantea), from Alaska to California, and Modoc vetch 

 (V. semicincta), of northern California and southern Oregon, have 

 been limitedly cultivated as forage plants, and it is quite possible 

 that other native vetches are also worthy of trial in cultivation. 



Cow vetch (F. cracca) is also coming to be considered a valuable 

 species in some parts of the West; Wooton and Standley (op. cit.) 

 state that it is not infrequently cultivated in various parts of New 

 Mexico as a fodder or soiling crop. Horsebean, or broadbean (F. 

 faiba), is used to some extent in Europe for human consumption; 

 but it is grown in the United States mostly for cattle feeding or as 

 a green-manure crop. Bigpod vetch (F. macrocarpci) is grown in 

 Algeria as a garden vegetable. The seeds of oneflower vetch (F. 

 monantha) are used in France like lentils. Common vetch (F. sat- 

 iva) , and hairy vetch ( F. villosa) , which have become naturalized in 

 some parts of the United States, are much cultivated both here and 

 abroad as forage plants. On the whole, the vetches are prized mostly 

 in this country as cover crops and for forage. 



Vetches have very dissimilar petals forming the butterflylike flow- 

 ers characteristic of the pea family. The flowers are borne in rather 

 loose, often 1-sided clusters in the leaf axils and, in the western 

 species, are mostly various shades of blue or purple, though some- 

 times rose-colored or yellowish white. Th trailing or climbing 

 stems- are usually angled, often square in cross-section, and are some- 

 times winged. The alternate leaves are divided (pinnately com- 

 pound) into (mostly) an even number of leaflets and besides are 

 usually terminated by a simple or branched tendril. In some species, 

 however, these tendrils (which represent morphologically the term- 

 inal leaflet of an odd-pinnate leaf) are reduced to a mere rudiment or 

 bristlelike appendage. The rather prominent, leaflike outgrowths 

 (stipules) at the base of the leaves are shaped like half an arrow- 

 head (semi -sagittate). There are 10 stamens arranged in two 

 groups of 9 and 1. The style has an enlarged, rounded tip, or "head" 

 (stigma), with a tuft of hairs more or less encircling it. This char- 



