Anthyllis vulneraria (Common kidneyvetch, Kidney vetch, woundwort) is a medicinal plant native to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. The name vulneraria means "wound healer".

Description

Anthyllis vulneraria reaches 5–40 cm (2–15.7 ) of height. The stem is simple or more often branched. The leaves are imparipinnate, glabrous or with scattered hairs on the upper face and silky hairs on the underside.

The flower heads are spherical in shape and 10–20 mm (0.393700787401575–0.78740157480315 ) long. The flower are yellow in almost all sub-species, with the typical irregular shape of the flowers of legumes. Flowering takes place between June and September. The fruit is a legume. The fruits ripening takes place from July to October.

Kidney vetch is the foodplant of the small blue butterfly larvae

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

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Distribution and habitat

This plant is spontaneous in the entire Europe, from Iceland to the Mediterranean, in Asia Minor up to Iran, in North Africa and in Ethiopia. It is naturalized in North America. It prefers the dry grasslands and rocky environments with calcareous soil, up to 3000 m of altitude.

Subspecies

This species includes numerous subspecies (which some authors elevate to the role of separate species). An incomplete list is as follows:

• A. vulneraria subsp. abyssinica (Sagorski) Cullen
• A. vulneraria subsp. alpestris (Kit.) Asch. et Gr.
• A. vulneraria subsp. baldensis (Kerner) Becker
• A. vulneraria subsp. busambarensis (Lojac.) Pign.
• A. vulneraria subsp. carpatica (Pant.) Nyman
• A. vulneraria subsp. forondae (Sennen) Cullen
• A. vulneraria subsp. iberica (W.Becker) Jalas
• A. vulneraria subsp. maura (Beck) Lindb.
• A. vulneraria subsp. polyphylla (D.C.) Nyman
• A. vulneraria subsp. polyphylla (D.C.) Nyman x affinis Brittinger ex Kerner
• A. vulneraria subsp. praepropera (Kerner) Bornm.
• A. vulneraria subsp. praepropera (Kerner) Borm. x adriatica Beck
• A. vulneraria subsp. pulchella (Vis.) Bornm.
• A. vulneraria subsp. vulneraria
• A. vulneraria subsp. vulnerarioides (All.) Arcang.
• A. vulneraria subsp. vulnerarioides (All.) Arcang. x bonjeanii Beck
• A. vulneraria subsp. weldeniana (Rchb.) Cullen
• A. vulneraria subsp. weldeniana (Rchb.) Cullen x tricolor Vukot.
• A. vulneraria subsp. weldeniana (Rchb.) Cullen x versicolor Sagorski
• A. vulneraria subsp. valesiaca (Becker) Guyot

Gallery