Vicia lathyroides
Encyclopedia
- "Spring vetch" redirects here. This name is also used for the Spring Vetchling (Lathyrus vernus).
Vicia lathyroides (Spring Vetch) is a plant species of the genus Vicia
Vicia
Vicia is a genus of about 140 species of flowering plants commonly known as vetches. It is in the legume family . Member species are native to Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. Some other genera of their subfamily Faboideae also have names containing "vetch", for example the...
. It is native to Europe and western Asia, and it is known on other continents as an introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
. It is an annual herb with pealike blue- or purple-tinged flowers about half a centimeter wide and hairless legume pods up to 3 centimeters long.