Vicia narbonensis, French vetch, Narbonne vetch, Purple Broad Bean,
Hebrew: בקיה צרפתית, Arabic: البيقية النربونية

Scientific name:  Vicia narbonensis L.
Common name:  French vetch, Narbonne vetch, Purple Broad Bean
Hebrew name:  בקיה צרפתית
Arabic name:  البيقية النربونية
Family:  Fabaceae / Papilionaceae, פרפרניים

Flora of Israel online, Native plants, Palestine
Location: Road 3415, Gad Hills (Givad Gad)

Life form:  Annual, climber
Leaves:  Alternate, compound, pinnate, smooth
Flowers:  Purple, violet
Fruits / pods:  Homogeneous seeds-fruits
Flowering Period:  February, March, April, May, June
Habitat:  Shrub-steppes, Desert
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:  Mediterranean
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral

Vicia narbonensis, French vetch, Narbonne vetch, Purple Broad Bean, בקיה צרפתית
Location: Road 3415, Gad Hills (Givad Gad)


Derivation of the botanical name:
Vicia, vetch; the classical Latin name for these herbs, perhaps related to vincire to bind.
narbonensis, Narbonne, a commune in southern France, near the Mediterranean coast.
The Hebrew name: בקיה, bakia, Post Biblical Hebrew: vetch; Greek: bikion, from Arabic: بيقية (bikia) or باقية (bakya).
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.