Vicia sativa

Common card · No. 455082

Vicia sativa, known as the common vetch, garden vetch, tare or simply vetch, is a nitrogen-fixing leguminous plant in the family Fabaceae. It is now naturalised throughout the world, being absent only in Antarctica and the Arctic regions. The centre of diversity is thought to be the Fertile Crescent, although gold standard molecular confirmation is currently not available. Global common vetch cultivation is limited due to anti-nutritional compounds in the seed although it is grown in dryland agricultural zones in Australia, China and Ethiopia due to its drought tolerance and very low nutrient requirements compared to other legumes. In these agricultural zones common vetch is grown as a green manure, livestock fodder or rotation crop. In cultivated grainfields, like lentils, it is often considered a weed due to downgrading of harvested mixed grain, resulting in farmers receiving less financial returns.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0