Page:Wayside and Woodland Blossoms.djvu/99

Rh leaves. The leaflets are numerous, and the leaf-stalk is continued for some distance beyond the leafy portion, where it becomes a clasping tendril, often divided into three or four branches. The Common Vetch is to be found in hedges and roadsides near cornfields, flowering from April to June. The flowers are pale purple in colour, and are produced singly or in pairs from the axils of the leaves. By some authorities this is not considered a true species, but merely a cultivated form of the Narrow-leaved Vetch (V. angustifolia). The seed-pods are slightly hairy, and from two to three inches in length. The name Vicia is the term by which the plants were known to the ancients and appears to have the same origin as Vinca (see page ).

There are no less than ten British species of Vicia, but as some of these are very rare, we shall refer only to some of the commoner kinds.