Vetch (vicia sativa) | 10 seeds

Vetch

Vicia sativa, known as the common vetch, garden vetch, tare or simply vetch, is a nitrogen-fixing leguminous plant in the family Fabaceae. It is now naturalised throughout throughout the world occurring on every continent, except antarctica and the arctic. The centre of diversity is thought to be the Fertile Crescent, although gold standard molecular confirmation is currently not available.

Global Common vetch cultivation is limited due to anti-nutrional compounds in the seed although it is grown in dryland agricultural zones in Australia, China and Ethiopia due to its drought tolerance and very low nutrient requirements compared to other legumes. In these agricultural zones Common Vetch is grown as a green manure, livestock fodder or rotation crop. In cultivated grainfields, like lentils, it is often considered a weed due to downgrading of harvested mixed grain and hence farmers receive less financial returns.

Global estimates of vetch production area varies considerably due to no formal assessment system. However, current cultivation estimates in Australia vary between 400,00 to 600,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) per year.

Vicia sativa is a sprawling annual herb, with hollow, four-sided, hairless to sparsely hairy stems which can reach two meters in maximum length.

The leaves are stipulate, alternate and compound, each made up of 3–8 opposite pairs of linear, lance-shaped, oblong, or wedge-shaped, needle-tipped leaflets up to 35 millimeters (1+1⁄2 in) long. Each compound leaf ends in a branched tendril.

The pea-like flowers occur in the leaf axils, solitary or in pairs. The flower corolla is 1–3 centimeters (1⁄2–1+1⁄4 in) long and bright pink-purple in colour, more rarely whitish or yellow. The flowers are mostly visited by bumblebees.

The fruit is a legume pod up to 6 or 7 centimeters (2+1⁄4 or 2+3⁄4 in) long, which is hairy when new, smooth later, then brown or black when ripe. It contains 4–12 seeds.

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