Annual or perennial herbs, usually climbing by means of tendrils
Leaves mostly paripinnate; petioles of all or upper leaves ending in a simple or branched tendril or a recurved bristle; leaflets entire or toothed; stipules semisagittate, often fimbriate or toothed
Flowers often blue, purple or yellow, 1 or few in leaf axils or racemose; bracts usually minute and caducous
Calyx tubular, often oblique at base; lobes subequal or 2 upper the shortest
Petals: vexillum obovate or oblong, clawed; wings obliquely oblong, adherent to middle of keel; keel shorter than wings
Stamens: vexillary stamen free or ± connate with others
Ovary subsessile or shortly stalked; ovules (2-)many; style compressed dorsally, usually pubescent at apex
Pod oblong to linear, compressed
Seeds globose or rarely compressed
x = 5, 6, 7, 11 (polyploidy, B-chromosomes)
Nomenclature:
*Vicia L.
Linnaeus: 734 (1753)
Harvey: 233 (1862)
Hutchinson: 452 (1964)
Verdcourt: 1067 (1971)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa: Several introduced species have become naturalised near cultivated land
References:
HARVEY, W.H. 1862. Leguminosae. Flora capensis 2
HUTCHINSON, J. 1964. Order LEGUMINALES. The genera of flowering plants 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum, edn 1. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
VERDCOURT, B. 1971. Flora of tropical East Africa. Leguminosae (part 4). Papilionoideae
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
