Common Vetch is an annual herb, velvet-hairy to nearly
hairless, prostrate, erect or climbing. Leaves are pinnately compound,
leaf-stalk less than 1 cm long; leaflets 4-18, 1-4 cm long, 2-15 mm
broad, oblong-cuneate to obcordate, apex truncate or emarginate.
Flowers are pale pink, crimson, purplish violet, rarely white, 1.8-3.0 cm.
Sepal teeth are equal or longer than the sepal tube, which is a
distinguishing feature. The closely related
Black-Pod Vetch has sepal teeth much
smaller than the sepal tube. Pods are 2.3-6.5 cm long, 4-8.5 mm broad, narrowly
oblong, velvet-hairy becoming hairless when mature, 6-12-seeded. Common
Vetch is found in Pakistan; Kashmir; India; Orient, Europe; Russia; Far
East, up to 3000 m. Flowering: July-August.
Identification credit: Tabish
Photographed in Nubra Valley, Ladakh.
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The flower labeled Common Vetch is ...