Weeds
Vicia villosa Roth - Vetch Hairy.
Systematic position.
Family Fabaceae, genus Vicia L.Biological group.
Annual spring-summer, rarely biennial or perennial plant.Morphology and biology.
Height 30-70 (100) cm. All plant is usually thick-hirsute, rarely almost bare (var. glabrescens Koch). Stem is weak, branchy. Leaf is terminated with branchy tendril. 6-8 (10) pairs of leaflets; leaflet linear-lanceolate, 12-30 mm in length, 1-3 (4) mm in width, obtuse or pointed. Flowers are 15-18 mm in length, narrow; calyx campaniform, slantwise cut, hairy; its teeth are unequal; lower teeth longer than upper ones, bristly, thin, equal to or longer than tube, ciliary along sides; corolla is lilac. Fruits are beans, 25-30 mm in length, 7-9 mm in width, wide-linear or oblong-rhombic. Seeds are 2-5 (6) in number, spherical. Flowering since May till July.Distribution.
Europe, Asia, North Africa, North America.Ecology.
Fields, rarely ruderal places. Prefers light, even sandy soils.Economic significance.
Weed plant of winter crops, being sometimes abundant in the crops of cereals having no rotation. Control measures include harrowing of young crops, duly interrow treatments.Related references:
Keller B.A., ed. 1934. Weed plants of the USSR. V. 3. Leningrad: AN SSSR. 448 p. (in Russian).Komarov V.L., ed. 1948. Flora of the USSR. Moscow & Leningrad: AN SSSR. V. 13: 450-451. (In Russian)