Vicia minutiflora D. Dietr.

Pygmy Flower Vetch; Small Flower Vetch

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Small Flower Vetch is a native herbaceous annual in the Bean family (Fabaceae). It can be found in the Black Belt region of central Alabama and the Tennessee Valley region of north Alabama. Small Flower Vetch occurs in rich hardwood forests, along streams, on bluffs and slopes, and in rocky woods. Most occurrences are in areas where limestone is at or near the surface. Small Flower Vetch is an annual with a tap root. Stems are multiple from a root crown, branched at the base, erect to sprawling, climbing by tendrils, and short pubescent to glabrate. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, pinnately compound, terminating in a branched or simple tendril. The leaflets are 4-8, ovate, elliptic to linear in outline, entire, and glabrate. Flowers are produced in axillary racemes of 1-2 flowers. The tubular calyx has 5 unequal triangular lobes. The corolla is papilionaceous and white to pale lavender or blue in color. The fruit is a flattened, sessile, glabrous legume with a slightly up-turned tip. It contains 4-8 seed. Small Flower Vetch can be confused with Tiny Vetch (Vicia hirsuta (Linnaeus) S.F. Gray) or Lentil Vetch (Vicia tetrasperma (L.) Schreb.) before flowering. Those species usually occur on disturbed sites and have more leaflets.—A. Diamond

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Native FAC (NWPL)

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