Vicia faba L. (Medit.?, Middle East?) – A regular but strictly ephemeral alien, mostly an escape from or relic of cultivation. Cultivated since quite a long time in Belgium (as broad bean or horse bean), mainly for fodder. Recorded in the wild since at least 1863 (waste land in Veltem). Subsequently seen in numerous and very widely scattered localities, predominantly in fallow fields (as a relic), or on dumps or waste land. Still regularly cultivated in Belgium but much less frequently seen in the wild nowadays. In the past decades only rarely seen, for instance by roads (from spilled seed) or on dumps. Some records are associated with birdseed waste.
Vicia faba is obviously most closely related with V. narbonensis (and probably derived from it). It is best distinguished by the absence of tendrils.
Sell & Murrell (2009) distinguish three varieties, exclusively on seed characters. These varieties seem to be of variable economic value and all probably occur in Belgium too. Var. faba (broad bean) is mainly cultivated for humans in private gardens, var. equina Pers. (horse bean) is grown as animal fodder (usually on a large scale in fields) and var. minor Peterm. (tick bean) is the variety commonly found in birdseed. See their account for more details.
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Selected literature:
Fennell S.R., Powell W., Wright F., Ramsay G. & Waugh R. (1998) Phylogenetic relationships between Vicia faba (Fabaceae) and related species inferred from chloroplast trnL sequences. Pl. Syst. Evol. 212(3-4): 247-259.
Fouquet B. (1973) Merkmalsvariabilität bei Vicia faba L. 2. Tabellarische Erfassung der Merkmalsvariabilität von Kulturpflanzen. Kulturpflanze 21: 57-60.
Ladizinsky G. (1975) On the origin of the broad bean, Vicia faba L. Israel J. Bot. 24(2-3): 80-88.
Maxted N., Khattab A.M.A. & Bisby F.A. (1991) The newly discovered relatives of Vicia faba L. do little to resolve the enigma of its origin. Bot. Chronika 10: 435-465.
Przybylska J., Zimniak Przybylska Z. & Krajewski P. (1998) Isoenzyme variation in the wild relatives of Vicia faba (Fabaceae). Pl. Syst. Evol. 213(3-4): 173-186. [avaimable online at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/jm66855426882x71/]
Sell P. & Murrell G. (2009) Flora of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. 3 Mimosaceae – Lentibulariaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: XXVIII + 595 p.
Zohary D. (1977) Comments on the origin of cultivated broad bean, Vicia faba L. Israel J. Bot. 26(1): 39-40.