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Fabaceae
Vicia

not marked as a favorite taxon Vicia caroliniana Walter. Common name: Pale Vetch, Wood Vetch, Carolina Vetch. Phenology: Apr-Jun; May-Jul. Habitat: Forests, woodlands, and disturbed areas. Distribution: NY west to WI, south to s. GA, s. MS, and c. TX.

Glossary (beta!)

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, C, Can, F, FNA11.2, G, Il, K4, Mi, Mo3, NY, Pa, SE3, Tat, Tn, Tx, Va, W, WH3, WV, Isely (1998); > Vicia caroliniana Walter — RAB, S, S13; > Vicia hugeri Small — RAB, S, S13; Vicia caroliniana Walter. Basionym: Vicia caroliniana Walter 1788

Links to other floras: = Vicia caroliniana - FNA11.2

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Wetland Indicator Status:

  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACU
  • Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU
  • Great Plains: UPL
  • Midwest: UPL
  • Northcentral & Northeast: UPL

Heliophily ⓘ: 5

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image #1 of Vicia caroliniana© Bruce A. Sorrie
image #2 of Vicia caroliniana© Alan M. Cressler | Original Image ⭷
image #3 of Vicia caroliniana© Sonnia Hill | Original Image ⭷
image #4 of Vicia caroliniana© Joey Shaw source | Original Image ⭷
image #5 of Vicia caroliniana© Gary P. Fleming | Original Image ⭷
image #10 of Vicia caroliniana© Gary P. Fleming | Original Image ⭷
image #11 of Vicia caroliniana© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷

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Horticultural Information

NCBG trait

Intro: Sprawling, trailing or climbing, rhizomatous perennial of dry (or occasionally moist) forests, woodlands and disturbed areas.

Stems: Stems several from base, hollow, slightly winged, mostly smooth.

Leaves: Leaves alternate, on short petioles with stipules at the base, pinnately divided into 4-25 pairs of narrowly elliptic to oblong-lance-shaped leaflets with a tiny spine at the tip and dense hairs above and beneath (leaflets alternate on the rachis). Tendrils extend from leaf ends.

Inforescence:

Flowers: Flowers in stalked, one-sided racemes, 3-4 in. long, from leaf axils; oriented parallel to the ground or nodding; pale lavender to white; about 1/4 in. long; bilaterally symmetric; tubular, with typical pea-flower shape.

Fruits: Fruit a flattened, narrowly oblong pod with a long-beaked tip.

Comments:

Height: 1-5 ft. (long)

plant sale text:

bloom table text:

description: Sprawling, trailing or climbing, rhizomatous perennial of dry (or occasionally moist) forests, woodlands and disturbed areas.

stems: Stems several from base, hollow, slightly winged, mostly smooth.

leaves: Leaves alternate, on short petioles with stipules at the base, pinnately divided into 4-25 pairs of narrowly elliptic to oblong-lance-shaped leaflets with a tiny spine at the tip and dense hairs above and beneath (leaflets alternate on the rachis). Tendrils extend from leaf ends.

inflorescence:

flowers: Flowers in stalked, one-sided racemes, 3-4 in. long, from leaf axils; oriented parallel to the ground or nodding; pale lavender to white; about 1/4 in. long; bilaterally symmetric; tubular, with typical pea-flower shape.

fruits: Fruit a flattened, narrowly oblong pod with a long-beaked tip.

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