Vicia. | XXV. PAPILIONACE. 123 
In dry, stony, waste, or cultivated places, in central and southern 
Europe to the Caucasus, not extending into northern Germany. In 
Britain, chiefly near the sea in southern England, and again on the 
rocky coasts of eastern Scotland. Not recorded from Ireland. F. 
early summer. 
8. V. sativa, Linn. (fig. 285). Common V.—An annual or biennial, 
glabrous or hairy ; the stems short and spreading, or nearly erect, or 
almost climbing, 1 to 2 feet high. Stipules toothed, and usually 
marked by a dark spot in the centre. Leaflets usually 4 to 7 pairs to 
each leaf, varying from obcordate to obovate to narrow-linear, the 
tendrils usually branched. Flowers sessile and solitary, or |rarely 2 
together in the axils of the leaves, usually large, of a reddish or bluish 
purple. Pod glabrous, 1 to 2 inches long, rather narrow, with 10 to 12 
smooth, globular seeds. 
In dry pastures, open woods, and waste places, throughout Kurope 
and Russian Asia, and having been long cultivated for forage, is now 
widely spread over the temperate regions of the globe. Fl. spring and 
early summer. In the cultivated state the stems are 1 to 2 feet high, 
the leaflets usually broad, and the flowers large; in the more common 
wild form, often distinguished as V. angustifolia, Linn., the leaflets are 
narrower, the flowers rather smaller and pod shorter; and the low 
spreading variety, V. Bobartiz, Forst., is only to be distinguished from 
V. lathyroides by the smooth seeds, and somewhat larger flowers 
and pods. 
9. V. lathyroides, Linn. (fig. 286). Spring V.—A low spreading 
annual or biennial, glabrous ‘or nearly so; the stems branching at the 
base, seldom 6 inches long; the foliage, solitary flower, and general 
appearance those of the smaller specimens of JV. sateva, the flowers are, 
however, smaller, usually of a richer purple, the calyx less decidedly 
oblique at the base, and the pods seldom an inch long. The seeds are 
also rough with raised dots, a distinction believed to be constant. 
In dry pastures, open woods, banks, &c., over the whole of Europe, 
except the extreme north, extending eastward to the Caucasus. Not 
uncommon in England and Scotland, very rare in Ireland. fl. spring. 
10. V. bithynica, Linn. (fig. 287). Bithynian V.—A glabrous or 
slightly downy annual, with weak angular stems, 1 to 2 feet long. 
Leaves more like those of a Lathyrus than of a Vicia, having usually 
only 2 pair of leaflets, obovate in the lowest leaves, oblong or 
lanceolate, and above an inch long in the others, the tendrils branched. 
Stipules rather broad and toothed. Flowers solitary or 2 together, 
on peduncles sometimes very short, sometimes half as long as the 
leaves, rather large, of a bluish-purple with very pale wings, and 
shaped like those of V. sativa. Style with a tuft of hairs under the 
stigma on the outer side. Pod 1 to 14 inches long, about 4 lines 
broad, usually more or less hairy. Seeds 4 to 6. 
In bushy or stony waste places, chiefly near the sea, but spreading 
inland as a cornfield weed, in southern Europe to the Caucasus, ex- 
tending up western France to Bordeaux, and reappearing in various 
counties of England, but not in Scotland or Ireland. Fl. Summer. 
