大野豌豆 da ye wan dou

Replaced synonym: Vicia gigantea Bunge, Enum. Pl. Chi­na Bor. 19. 1833, not Vicia gigantea Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 157. 1831; Ervum giganteum Stankevicz.

Herbs perennial, 40-100 cm tall. Stem much branched, persistently white pilose. Leaves paripinnate; stipules bifid; leaflets 3-6-paired, elliptic or obovate-elliptic, 15-30(-35) × 6-17(-20) mm, both surfaces persistently white pilose, apex ob­tuse, mucronate; lateral veins 7- or 8-paired; tendril 2- or 3-branched, or unbranched. Raceme longer than leaf; sparsely 6-16-flowered. Calyx campanulate, 2-2.5 mm, hairy. Corolla white, pink, or purple; standard obovate, ca. 7 mm, subequaling wings and longer than keel, apex retuse. Ovary long stalked, glabrous; ovules 2 or 3. Legume oblong or rhomboid, 10-20 × 4-5.5 mm, both ends acute. Seeds 2 or 3, reniform. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Oct.

● Forests, scrub, hedges, grasslands, slopes, stony land; 600-3000 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shan­xi, Sichuan, Yunnan.

Vicia ramosissima Franchet (J. Bot. (Morot) 4: 305. 1890), de­scribed from Beijing (Baihua Shan), was said in the protologue to be close to Bunge’s V. gigantea. If the two entities proved to be conspe­cific, then V. ramosissima would be the earliest legitimate (and correct) name for the species. However, the present authors have not examined the type of Franchet’s name and therefore cannot confirm its identity.