Scientific Name
Vicia sativa L. subsp. nigra (L.) Ehrh.
Synonyms
Vicia angustifolia L.Vicia sativa L. subsp. angustifolia (L.) Gaudich.Vicia sativa L. var. angustifolia (L.) Ser.Vicia sativa L. var. nigra L.
Common Names
black-pod vetch, blackpod vetch, common vetch, garden vetch, narrow leaved vetch, narrow-leaf vetch, narrowleaf vetch, narrow-leaved vetch, purple vetch, slender vetch, spring vetch, tare, vetch
Family
Fabaceae (Queensland, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory)Fabaceae: sub-family Faboideae (New South Wales)Leguminosae (South Australia)Papilionaceae (Western Australia)
Origin
Native to northern and eastern Africa (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Zaire), Europe, the Arabian Peninsula (i.e. Saudi Arabia), western Asia (i.e. Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), Russia, Mongolia, China and the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan).
Naturalised Distribution
Widely naturalised in southern and eastern Australia (i.e. in south-eastern Queensland, eastern New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, south-eastern South Australia and the south-western and southern parts of Western Australia). It is occasionally also naturalised in central Queensland and inland parts of New South Wales, and has been recorded on both Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.
Also widely naturalised in other parts of the world, including large parts of North America (i.e. Alaska, Canada and the USA), south-eastern Asia, the Mascarenes (i.e. Mauritius, La Reunion and Rodriguez), New Zealand and Hawaii.
Notes
Narrow-leaved vetch (Vicia sativa subsp. nigra) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria and Western Australia.
