Vicia crack
Vicia cracca, the wild pea (not to be confused with the common pea) is a wild climbing plant of the family of the fabaceae
Description
Its pubescent stems reach 2 m in height. It has pinnate leaves with up to twelve leaflets, ending in tendrils, with a lanceolate outline. The inflorescences are made up of up to 40 bluish flowers, with the calyx markedly longer than the tube, coming out of a long peduncle. The fruits, as in all the species of the genus, are presented in thin pods that measure up to 3 cm in length.
It is very similar to other species of the genus, differing above all in the shape of its leaves and fruits.l
Habitat
It is generally found in humid places, riverbanks, roadsides, hedgerows or cultivated fields.
Distribution
It is found in copses, meadows, humid grasslands on the edge of the gall oak, pine forest, beech forest and riverside forests; at an altitude of 0-1950 meters in most of Europe, N, NE and W Asia and North Africa; introduced to North America. N of Spain and Iberian System.
Taxonomy
Vicia cracca was described by Carlos Linnaeus and published in Species Plantarum 2: 735. 1753.
- Cytology
Chromosome number of Vicia cracca (Fam. Leguminosae) and infraspecific taxa: 2n=12
- Etymology
Vicia: generic name derived from the Greek bíkion, bíkos, Latinized vicia, vicium = vetch or pea (Vicia sativa L., mainly).
cracca: epithet
- Subspecies
- Vicia cracca ssp. cracca
- Vicia cracca var. canescens Franch. Sav.
- Vicia cracca var. japonica Miq.
- Synonym:
- Vicia milestoneeropus Freyn
- Vicia lilacina Ledeb.
- Cracca major Gren.
- Vicia heteropus Freyn
- Vicia macrophylla (Maxim.)B.Fedtsch.
- Vicia oiana Honda
- Vicia oreophila Zertova
- Vicia variabilis Grossh.
Common name
- Castellano: alberjacas, algarrobilla de monte, alvejón, alverja, alverjana, alverjón, arbeja de monte, arbeja, arverjas, becilla, cracca, haba-cracca, mata soberbia, verza, vesa, veza, vicia, zapatetas loca.