VETCHES AND VETCH-LIKE PLANTS 457 



sow beans, horse beans, and so on, but the name " vetch " 

 is never used in referring to this crop. Only two kinds 

 of vetches, namely, the common vetch and the hairy 

 vetch, are much grown in the United States at present, but 

 other species are likely to become of increasing importance. 

 Thus bitter vetch is growing in favor as a cover crop 

 in California, and scarlet, purple and woolly-podded 

 vetches are all excellent, and with cheaper seed would 

 certainly be largely grown. 



548. Common vetch (Vicia saliva). Common vetch, 

 or tares, is strictly an annual, having much the same habit 

 as the garden or English pea, but the stems are more 

 slender and usually taller, growing 3 to 5 feet or more in 

 length ; leaves pinnate, with about seven pairs of leaflets 

 and a terminal tendril ; flowers violet-purple, rarely white 

 and borne in pairs on a very short stalk; pods brown, 

 each containing four or five seeds, which are gray or 

 marbled in the commonest varieties. At maturity the 

 pods readily coil and discharge the seeds. 



Owing to the fact that the seed is grown largely in 

 western Oregon, where it is usually fall sown, it has be- 

 come known, also, as Oregon winter vetch. In contrast 

 with hairy vetch, common vetch is also known as smooth 

 vetch, and sometimes the name English vetch is applied 

 to it. The gray-seeded variety of common vetch is the 

 one most cultivated in the United States. 



549. Botany and agricultural history. Common vetch 

 is native over much of Europe and western Asia. The 

 species is very variable, and numerous botanical varie- 

 ties have been named. 



According to De Candolle, the earliest reference to its 

 culture was by Cato about 60 B.C., when it was grown 

 both for seed and for fodder. 



