Vicia hirsuta

Rauhaarige vetch (Vicia hirsuta )

The wire-haired vetch or field - vetch (Vicia hirsuta ) is a plant that to the subfamily of Fabaceae ( Faboideae ) belongs within the legume family ( Fabaceae ).

Description

The wire-haired vetch is an herbaceous plant, reaching heights of growth of 15 to 60 centimeters. The pinnate leaves have at their head a tendril and four, eight or 16 pairs of leaflets that are often front emarginate. The stipules are always similar.

Your racemose inflorescences are long-petiolate and usually three to achtblütig, but only rarely flowered or up to zehnblütig. The white flowers are usually blue veined and up to 8 mm in size. The legume is zweisamig and has soft hair.

Ecology

The Hairy vetch is an annual, widely creeping vine that is rooted deep to 60 cm.

They can occur at low competitive winter cereal stocks of organic farming in high density and mass. This results in yield and quality losses and harvesting difficulties. Measures to increase the competitive ability of the crop as the choice of variety or increasing the nitrogen supply is not sufficient in heavy weed pressure and the necessary short-acting nitrogen fertilizer are not available.

Its flowers are very small " butterfly flowers with folding mechanism. They offer abundant nectar and are therefore frequently visited by insects, especially bees. Even self-pollination takes place. Blooms from June to July.

The fruits are 2- samige sleeves with round, only 9 mg heavy seeds. The pods are drying spreader roll seeds. Also randomly spread through the intestines of ungulates and editing spread by pigeons, etc., done, next to people spread over earth movements and seed contamination is possible. Fruit ripening from July to October.

Vegetative propagation is given by stolons.

The species has the chromosome number 2n = 14

Occurrence

The wire-haired vetch grows on sandy, loamy, often acidic fields, in dry to moderately moist waste places, dry bushes, on dry grasslands and meadows. They also regarded as a kalkmeidende plant. In the whole of Germany it is common, only in the Alps rare.

Phytosociological it is in Central Europe, a characteristic species of the order Centauretalia cyanides.

Use

The field winding is edible and is or was in some places cultivated for food use. Your seeds are or were used as a lens replacement.