Vetch

Vetch (Vicia), a genus of plants of the natural order Leguminosæ, sub-order Papilionaceæ, having a tuft of hairs on the style beneath the stigma, nine stamens united, and one free. To this genus the Bean (q.v.) is referred by the authors of the Genera Plantarum, an arrangement not generally adopted by botanists. The species, however, are mostly climbing plants, annuals, with pinnate leaves ending in tendrils, and with no terminal leaflet. A number of species are natives of Britain. The Common Vetch (V. sativa), sometimes called by agriculturists Tare, frequent in cultivated ground in Britain and throughout Europe, and itself much cultivated as green food for cattle, has rather large purple, blue, or red flowers in pairs, axillary and almost sessile. In cultivation it varies considerably both in size and other particulars, as in the breadth of the leaflets, the number of them in a leaf, &c. Oats are sometimes sown along with it, to afford it a little support, and thus prevent its rotting in wet weather. V. Cracca and V. sepium are very common British species, the former with many-flowered stalks, bearing beautiful bluish-purple flowers, being one of the most beautiful climbing plants, and a chief ornament of trees, hedges, and bushy places in the latter part of summer. These and other species, natives of Britain or of different parts of Europe and the north of Asia, have been either occasionally cultivated as food for cattle or recommended for cultivation, and generally agree with the Common Vetch both in their qualities and in the mode of cultivation which they require. V. biennis and V. narbonensis are amongst those chiefly cultivated in some parts of Europe. The species of vetch are very numerous, chiefly in the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere. For the Bitter Vetch, see OROBUS.