Βίκος ο ξενικός
Etymology of Vicia peregrina: The Latin name of the genus, "Vicia", meaning "binder", derives from Proto-Italic "wikia", which in turn originates other from Proto-Indo-European "weyk-", meaning "to curve, bend" or from Proto-Indo-European "wehy- ". The name "binder" alludes to the activity of the tendrils. "Peregrina" in Latin means "foreigner, exotic".
At least 26 Vicia species and subspecies/kinds have so far been identified in the wild Cypriot habitat, of which two of them appear exclusively in occupied northern Cyprus.
This species is encountered all around Cyprus at an altitude of up to 1000 metres. It mostly grows on grasslands, field margins and roadsides. Its flowering period in Cyprus is usually from February until June.
How to identify Vicia peregrina:
- Its inflorescence is sessile or subsessile in the leaf axil, or very shortly pedunculate; the peduncle, (or pedicel) is generally shorter than the calyx and corolla
- Its petals are purple
- It is a plant sprawling or climbing; the stem is slender and weak; the leaflets are narrowly oblong, linear
- The standard is more than 8 mm long; seeds with a smooth, not papillose, testa
- Calyx-teeth are less than 3 mm long, the 2 adaxial deltoid; the stipules are small, semi-sagittate
- The limb of the standard is deeply emarginate at the apex; the leaflets are conspicuously truncate or emarginate at the apex; the flowers are solitary
