Israel wildflowers: Fine-leaved Vetch

Vicia tenuifolia, Ervum tenuifolium, Vicia brachytropis, Vicia cracca var. tenuifolia, Fine-leaved Vetch,

Hebrew: בקיה דקת-עלים, Arabic: البيقية رقيقة الأوراق

Scientific name:   Vicia tenuifolia Roth
Synonym name:   Ervum tenuifolium (Roth) Trautvetter, Vicia brachytropis Karelin & Kirilov, Vicia cracca Linnaeus subsp. tenuifolia (Roth) Gaudin, Vicia cracca var. tenuifolia (Roth) Beck.
Common name:   Fine-leaved Vetch
Hebrew name:   בקיה דקת-עלים
Arabic name:   البيقية رقيقة الأوراق
Family:   Papillionaceae, פרפרניים


Life form:   Hemicryptophyte, climber
Stems:   Up to 100 cm tall; erect, strong, puberulent
Leaves:   Alternate, compound, linear or linear-lanceolate, entire margin; tendril 2- or 3-branched
Flowers:   Pink or violet raceme; corolla 12–18 mm, limb of standard longer than claw
Fruits / pods:   Legume oblong-lanceolate
Flowering Period:   April, May, June
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   The Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Euro-Siberian – Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Vicia, vetch; the classical Latin name for these herbs, perhaps related to vincire to bind.

tenuifolia, tenuis, thin, fine, slim, slender; folia, leaf; slender leaved.
vetch, late 14c., from Old North French, veche, variant of Old French vece, from Latin vicia.
The Hebrew name: בקיה, bakia, Post Biblical Hebrew: vetch; Greek: bikion, from Arabic: بيقية (bikia) or باقية (bakya).

  • The standard author abbreviation Roth is used to indicate Albrecht Wilhelm Roth (1757 – 1834), a German physician and botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Trautvetter is used to indicate Ernst Rudolf von Trautvetter (1809 – 1889), a Baltic German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Karelin is used to indicate Gregory Silich Karelin (1801 – 1872)., a Russian naturalist and traveler.
  • The standard author abbreviation Kirilov is used to indicate Ivan Kirilov (1821-1842), a Russian botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation Gaudin is used to indicate Jean Francois Aime Philipe Gaudin (1766 – 1833), a Swiss botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Beck is used to indicate Günther Ritter Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau (1856 – 1931), an Austrian botanist.