What is "vicia sativa"

Tare \Tare\, n. [Cf. Prov. E. tare brisk, eager, OE. tarefitch the wild vetch.]

1. A weed that grows among wheat and other grain; -- alleged by modern naturalists to be the Lolium temulentum, or darnel.

   Didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares?
   --Matt. xiii. 27.

   The ``darnel'' is said to be the tares of Scripture, and is the only deleterious species belonging to the whole order.
   --Baird.

2. (Bot.) A name of several climbing or diffuse leguminous herbs of the genus Vicia; especially, the Vicia sativa, sometimes grown for fodder.

Vicine \Vic"ine\, n. (Chem.) An alkaloid ex tracted from the seeds of the vetch ( Vicia sativa) as a white crystalline substance.

Vetch \Vetch\, n. [Also fitch; OE. ficche, feche, for veche, OF. veche, vecce, vesche, vesce, F. vesce, fr. L. vicia.] (Bot.) Any leguminous plant of the genus Vicia, some species of which are valuable for fodder. The common species is Vicia sativa.

Note: The name is also applied to many other leguminous plants of different genera; as the chichling vetch, of the genus Lathyrus; the horse vetch, of the genus Hippocrepis; the kidney vetch ( Anthyllis vulneraria); the milk vetch, of the genus Astragalus; the licorice vetch, or wild licorice ( Abrus precatorius).

Vicia sativa, known as the common vetch, garden vetch, tare or simply vetch, is a nitrogen fixing leguminous plant in the family Fabaceae. Although considered a weed when found growing in a cultivated grainfield, this hardy plant is often grown as green manure or livestock fodder.

There are at least four subspecies generally accepted:

• Vicia sativa ssp. cordata (Hoppe) Asch. & Graebn.
• Vicia sativa ssp. nigra (L.) Ehrh. – Narrow-leaved Vetch (= ssp./var. angustifolia, ssp. consobrina, ssp. cordata (Hoppe) Batt., ssp. cuneata, ssp. heterophylla, var. minor, var. nigra)
• Vicia sativa ssp. sativa (= var. linearis, ssp. notata)
• Vicia sativa ssp. segetalis (Thuill.) Arcang. (sometimes included in ssp. nigra)