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Vicia benghalensis
Also called Purple Vetch, Algerian Vetch, Bengal Vetch, Hairy Vetch, Narrow Leaved Purple Vetch, Wild Purple Vetch, Reddish Winter Vetch
Vicia benghalensis is a hairy annual climbing vetch from southern Europe and North Africa, grown as a forage and cover crop and sometimes found as an introduced weed. It is the species described here; the vetch genus Vicia contains many similar climbers.
Vicia benghalensis is a species of vetch known by the common names purple vetch and reddish tufted vetch. It is native to southern Europe, North Africa, and nearby islands, and it is utilized elsewhere in agriculture and may be present in the wild as an introduced species. It is an annual herb with a climbing stem which is coated in hairs, often densely, making the plant appear silvery white. Each leaf is made up of several pairs of elongated leaflets which measure up to 3 centimeters in length. The inflorescence is a one-side raceme of several dark reddish purple flowers. Each flower has a densely hairy calyx of sepals and a tubular corolla between one and two centimeters in length. The fruit is a flat, hairy legume pod up to 3.5 centimeters long containing multiple seeds.
Lentil · American vetch · Vicia anatolica · Bird vetch · Blister vetch · Broad Bean · Grass Like Vetch · Tiny vetch · Dwarf Lentil · Purple broad vetch · Eastern Wild Lentil · Hungarian vetch
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Vicia benghalensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
