Vicia Faba
Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a legume crop grown primarily for its edible seeds (beans). Faba bean is a major legume seed consumed by humans worldwide. The seeds of some varieties are an important livestock feed. Faba bean is also grown for fodder.
Vicia faba is an upright annual forage legume that can grow to a height of 1.5-2 m. It has a taproot and many fibrous lateral roots that explore up to 90 cm of the soil area. The stems are coarse, hollow, and unbranched. Faba bean has tillers that grow from the basal nodes. The leaves are alternate, up to 8 cm long, pinnately compound, with 2 to 6 leaflets, without a tendril or with a very rudimentary one. The leaflets are rounded or oval, up to 6-8 cm long and 2-4 cm broad. The inflorescences are borne on short axillary racemes and they bear between 1 and 6 papillionaceous flowers. These flowers are large (up to 3-4 cm long), white or white with black/dark purple spots. The fruit is a dehiscent cylindrical pod, up to 10 cm long and 1-2 cm in diameter. The pods are green when young and turn to dark brown or black at maturity. The pods contain 3-4 oblong-oval seeds (beans) that have a distinctive hilum on their short side.