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Vicia menziesii

Spreng. (1826)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Genus: Vicia

Hawaiian vetch

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Coarse, climbing perennial herbs 15–200 dm long, supported in the canopy of trees or shrubs, pubescent when young, sparsely so with age.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves compound. Alternate. Leaflets 8–12, alternate or subopposite, narrowly ovate to oblong–ovate, 35–70 mm long, 15–30 mm wide. Apex acute to rounded and mucronate. Surfaces sparsely pubescent. Margins lacerate–dentate with subulate teeth. Petiolate. Stipules semisagittate, foliaceous, suborbicular, 20–30 mm long, 10–20 mm wide.

Flowers: Flowers 6–9 in axillary racemes. Flowers papilionaceous; bracts minute, caducous, bracteoles absent; pedicels 8–10 mm long. Calyx 5-lobed, gibbous, upper teeth 3–5 mm long, lateral teeth 5–6 mm long, lowest tooth 6–7 mm long. Corolla ochreoleucous when young, aging upward, 25–30 mm purple, curved style dorsoventrally flattened, the upper part surrounded by short hairs, longer toward stigma, standard with a broad claw, wing petals obliquely oblong, keel petals shorter than wings, obtuse. Stamens 10, Upper stamen distinct or adhering with others, the remaining 9 connate into a tube. Ovary superior.

Fruit: Pods black at maturity; oblong–ellipsoid; 90–100 mm long; 15–20 mm wide; stipitate; laterally compressed; dehiscent; not septate. Seeds black; globose; 6–8 mm in diameter; hilum extending ca. 3/4 of the circumference.

Ploidy: 2n = 14*

Habitat: Wet to mesic forest; or open; decadent forest with a fern understory.

Elevation Range: 1,570–1720 m.

Historical Distribution

Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Endemic

Island Status

Hawai'i Endemic

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Notes

  • Description digitized by Ikaika Mendez
  • Description digitized from the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii
  • Historically known from Hualalai, Mauna Loa, and Mauna Kea, Hawai.i, but the provenance data of all the early collections is vague.
  • The morphology, seed amino acids, pollen, and karyotype of Vicia menziesii were studied by Lasseter and Gunn (1979). It is possibly pollinated by the 'I'iwi (Vestiaria coccineo) and 'Amakihi (Ifemignathus v irens).
  • Wet to mesic forests

Bibliography

Name Published In: Syst. Veg. 3: 267 (1826)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:716 (H)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Description Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Flowers white after blooming but turn pink at anthesis. Giffin, J. Hawaii BISH 1993-04-01
2 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Rémy, J. 656 Hawaii BISH 1851-01-01
3 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 997 Hawaii BISH 1915-06-29
4 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 997 Hawaii BISH 1915-06-29
5 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 997 Hawaii BISH 1915-06-29
6 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 938 Hawaii BISH 1915-06-26
7 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 997 Hawaii BISH 1915-06-29
8 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Climbing on Metrosideros, Ilex, Rubus, Cibotium forest. Preserved_Specimen Climbing vine. No flowers. Clarke, G. 276 Hawaii BISH 1979-10-31
9 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Disturbed closed Metrosideros forest. Climbing on Metrosideros, Rubus, Myoporum, Alyxia and logs. Substrate: reddish brown ash over `a`a. Preserved_Specimen Climbing vine. Flowers white to dark rose. ESP Field Crew 110 Hawaii BISH 1979-09-10
10 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 938 Hawaii BISH 1915-06-26
11 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Forbes, C.N. 938 Hawaii BISH 1915-06-26
12 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Disturbed closed Metrosideros forest. Climbing on Metrosideros, Rubus, Myoporum, Alyxia, and logs. Substrate: reddish brown ash over `a`a. Preserved_Specimen Climbing vine. ESP Field Crew 110 Hawaii BISH 1979-09-10
13 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details In open decandent Acacia koa - Myrsine forest with fern understory. The Vicia covered an area of ca. 500 sq. ft. Preserved_Specimen Kepler, A.K. Hawaii BISH 1985-04-09
14 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Climbing on Metrosideros, Ilex, Rubus, Cibotium forest. Preserved_Specimen Climbing vine. No flowers. Clarke, G. 276 Hawaii BISH 1979-10-31
15 Vicia menziesii Locality redacted. Contact Bishop Museum Botany Department for details Preserved_Specimen Vine with flowers white to rose in color. Few. Herat, T. 1015 Hawaii BISH 1974-07-08
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