Species:
Vicia villosa ssp. eriocarpa
Family: Fabaceae (Pea family).
Common names: Woollypod vetch.
Confused with: There are a number of similar naturalised vetch species and varieties. Wollypod vetch can be readily distinguished by the flowers, with 3 – 30 flowers along a stem which arises from the leaf axil; the flower stem is 25 – 70 mm long. Other vetch species have around 1 to 5 flowers in each cluster.
Description: Seedling leaves – emerge from the seed and soil as an erect shoot (the cotyledons remain in the soil). The seedling leaves unfurl from this shoot. The first true leaves have around 5 leaflets, each leaflet 8 – 10 mm long and 1 – 2 mm wide. Leaflets are a narrow, rounded oblong in shape, darker green on top and paler underneath and are borne on a short leaf stem, 5 – 10 mm long. Two small scale leaves 4 – 8 mm long and 1 – 3 mm wide clasp the stem at the junction of the stem and the leaf stems.
Later leaflets – are more rounded, oblong in shape, 5 – 40 mm long and 2 – 8 mm wide. They are borne on a stem 40 – 50 mm long, which terminates in 2 or 3 clasping tendrils. Leaves are 50 – 110 mm long, with 8 – 24 leaflets.
Plants – a spreading, branched annual or biennial plant, 30 – 40 cm tall.
Flowers – are deep purplish-red, 10 – 20 mm long. 3 – 40 flowers are clustered along a flower stem, 25 – 70 mm long, with the first flower about half way along the stem, and subsequent flowers spaced along the stem. Flower stems arise from the leaf axils.
Seed pods – develop along the flower stems. They are initially green, but become light-tan with age. Pods are 20 – 40 mm long, 6 – 12 mm wide, and flattened, 3 – 6 mm wide.
Seeds – are 3 – 6 mm wide, light to dark brown and may be mottled, with a black strip running around the outside edge from the embryo to the end.
Lifecycle/Biology: Woollypod vetch seedlings normally emerge in autumn and winter, and begin flowering in late winter and spring. Woollypod vetch can persist in suitable conditions, but plants normally die in hot summer conditions. Commercial crops are planted in late autumn. Most vetch varieties are very hardseeded, and seed may persist in the soil for many years.
Ecology: Suited to most soils and does well on heavy clay and alkaline soils. Woollypod vetch is susceptible to a range of pests and diseases and does not compete well with weeds during early growth. Control of broadleaf weeds in vetch can be problematic.
The problem: Ideally woollypod vetch is grown as a green manure crop, plowed in before it can set seed. If vetch does set seed, it may be an annoying weed for many years in following crops and fallows. Some woollypod vetch varieties are very hardseeded, so seed can persist for many years, with weedy escapes adding to the seed bank over time. Seedlings may emerge after a following crop is watered up and can be difficult to remove from the crop.
Distribution: Woollypod vetch is grown as a pasture, for hay production and as a green manure crop in all states except the Northern Territory and has become naturalised in many of the wetter areas. It is readily eater by livestock
Origin: A native of Europe.
Compiled by: Graham Charles
