Vicia lathyroidesL.

spring vetch

WFO wfo-0000212745 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Vicia lathyroides, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. a Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-23 / obs. 200790807
Vicia lathyroides, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. b Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194375538
Vicia lathyroides, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. c Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194375856
Vicia lathyroides, photographed by Ellyne Geurts
fig. d Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 195210665
Vicia lathyroides, photographed by Nathan T. Jones
fig. e Nathan T. Jones, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190708458
Vicia lathyroides, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. f Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 189624533
Vicia lathyroides, photographed by Tim Johnson
fig. g Tim Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 196539660
Vicia lathyroides, photographed by Annie Weissman
fig. h Annie Weissman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186745016

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 44 botanical countries

Regions where Vicia lathyroides is native: Algeria, Morocco, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaMoroccoCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Sardegna
Native distribution of Vicia lathyroides, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Morocco MOR

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 225 in flower of 232 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Vicia lathyroides observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 225 of 232 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 9 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 17 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cracca pauciflora (C.Presl) Gennari
  • Ervum lathyroides (L.) Stank.
  • Ervum soloniense L.
  • Lens soloniensis (L.) Vines & Druce
  • Vicia angustifolia Hohen.
  • Vicia arenivaga Lamotte
  • Vicia lathyroides prol. olbiensis (Reut.) Rouy
  • Vicia lathyroides subsp. arenivaga (Lamotte) Nyman
  • Vicia lathyroides subsp. olbiensis (Reut.) Bujor.
  • Vicia lathyroides var. olbiensis (Reut.) P.Fourn.
  • Vicia minima Gilib.
  • Vicia multicaulis Wallr.
  • Vicia olbiensis Reuter
  • Vicia olbiensis Reut.
  • Vicia pauciflora C.Presl
  • Wiggersia lathyroides (L.) G.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Scherb.
  • Wiggersia minima Alef.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.