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Vicia benghalensis L.
Purple Vetch

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 2:736 (1753)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Alien to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Twining or decumbent annual or perennial (short-lived), herb or climber, 0.4-3 m high. Fl. red-brown/purple-red, Apr or Aug to Nov. Grey-brown sand, red-brown sandy or clay loam, grey-black sandy clay, gravel, limestone. Banks of creeks and wet areas, gfardens, roadverges.

Amanda Spooner, Descriptive Catalogue, 24 August 2007
Image

Scientific Description

Twining or climbing plants. Stems flattened, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, continuous with stem, 45-100 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 14-16, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet absent; pustules or glands absent. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 11-12 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 2 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles absent. Calyx 9-10 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 15-16 mm long, multicoloured, mostly red, brown or purple, with some red, brown or purple spots, streaks or blotches; claws present; standard 12.5-14 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 14-15 mm long, not auriculate, keel 12.6-13 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 11-12 mm long. Ovary; style 12-13 mm long, hairy or glandular towards the base, bearded (with a tuft of hairs at apex), terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), stipitate or sessile or subsessile, not constricted between the seeds, flat or compressed, not beaked. Flowers in April, August, September, October and November. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Esperance and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.

C. Hollister and K.R. Thiele, 17 April 2024

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Swan Coastal Plain.
IBRA Subregions
Fitzgerald, Katanning, Northern Jarrah Forest, Perth, Southern Jarrah Forest, Western Mallee.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Armadale, Boddington, Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Busselton, Cockburn, Dardanup, Gnowangerup, Kojonup, Manjimup, South Perth, Swan, Toodyay, Waroona, West Arthur.