Ervilia sativa

Ervilia sativa

The Bitter vetch or Blister Vetch (Ervilia sativa Link) is a herbaceous species belonging to the Fabaceae family.

Systematics –
From a systematic point of view it belongs to:
Eukaryota Domain,
Kingdom Plantae,
Magnoliophyta Division,
Magnoliopsida class,
Fabales Order,
Fabaceae family,
Faboideae subfamily,
Vicieae Tribe,
Genus Ervilia,
E. sativa species.
The terms are synonymous:
– Ervum ervilia L.;
– Ervum plicatum Moench;
– Lens pygmaea Grossh.;
– Rhynchium plicatum Dulac;
– Vicia ervilla Medik..

Etymology –
The term Ervilia comes from ervum, a species of vetch.
The specific sativa epithet comes from satum (past participle of sero sowing, planting) sown, planted: that is sown or planted, cultivated, domestic.

Geographic Distribution and Habitat –
Ervilia sativa is an annual plant of probable Mediterranean-Eastern origin, formerly cultivated as forage and wild in almost the entire Mediterranean region.
It is present in the Mediterranean, from Portugal to Bulgaria, in Macaronesia and in Egypt; Western Asia, from Turkey and the Caucasus to Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.
In Italy it is present in almost all regions of Italy but never reported for Piedmont, Aosta Valley, Calabria and Sardinia. It was one of the first domesticated crops. The nutritional value of this plant for ruminants has ensured its cultivation in Morocco, Spain and Turkey.
Its habitat, where the species is in sharp decline in Italy, is that of fields cultivated with cereals, below the lower mountain belt, where it grows as a weed; it is found in mountain slopes and fields, at altitudes between 800 and 1,100 meters in Iraq or in areas of scrub, stony slopes, scree, edges of fields and vineyards, road edges and disturbed areas, at altitudes up to 2,000 meters.

Description –
Ervilia sativa is a slightly to very branched annual herbaceous plant, 20 – 90 cm tall, with roots that contain nitrogen-fixing nodules.
The leaves, like the species of this tribe. they are composed.
The flowers have the typical conformation of legume flowers (papilionaceous corolla) and are white-violet.
The fruits are legumes and the seeds have a diameter of 3 – 5 mm.

Cultivation –
Ervilia sativa is an annual plant among the first cultivated crops in human history even if largely no longer used as a food crop; it is still cultivated as a minor food crop of decreasing importance in the Mediterranean area, in the countries of the Near and Middle East, in the past also in the southern parts of central Europe and sometimes in the western United States. The main recent producer is Turkey, from which cereals are exported to Western Europe. Today it is mainly used as a forage plant (green fodder, grains, especially for sheep).
The plant is classified as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2013).
This plant is often found as a weed among cereal crops.
The seeds of this plant are considered poisonous to pigs and dangerous to cattle when the pods are close to maturity and are still moist.
It is a plant of the Mediterranean and semi-arid climates of the temperate zone, where it is found at altitudes up to 1,100 meters. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are between 12 and 22 ° C, but can tolerate between 5 and 28 ° C.
In a dormant state it can survive temperatures as low as around -10 ° C, but new castings can be severely damaged at -1 ° C.
It prefers an average annual rainfall in the range of 500 – 700 mm, but tolerates 300 – 1,200 mm.
From a pedological point of view it tolerates any well-drained soil in a sunny position if the soil is reliably moist throughout the growing season, otherwise it prefers areas in partial shade and grows in soils with pH between 7 and 7.5, tolerating 5.6 – 8.2.
It is a fairly drought tolerant plant even during the first period of growth.
The annual seed yield can be between 0.4 and 3 tons per hectare.
This plant has a symbiotic relationship with some soil bacteria; these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is used by the growing plant, but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby. For this reason, when removing plant remains at the end of the growing season, it is best to remove only the aerial parts of the plant, allowing the roots in the soil to rot and release their nitrogen.
Propagation occurs by seed. Sowing must be done directly in the open field in spring or autumn. The seed has a hard coat and can benefit from scarification before sowing to speed up and improve germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water over the seeds (being careful not to cook them) and then soaking them for 12 – 24 hours in warm water. By now they should have absorbed the moisture, swelling.

Customs and Traditions –
Ervilia sativa, previously classified as Vicia ervilla Medik., Belongs to the ancient cultural nucleus of the Near East, where prehistoric remains and documents dating back to 7000 BC have been found. Traces of the first domesticated varieties, in fact, have been found in several sites archaeological sites in Turkey, which revealed the carbon-14 method to date back to the VII and VI millennium BC.
The wild strains of this plant are limited to an area that includes Anatolia and northern Iraq, with an extension to the south along the area in front of Lebanon, Syria and Lebanon itself.
It is therefore an ancient grain legume used as feed in the Mediterranean basin. This legume has great economic potential due to its high yield with low inputs and good protein content, as well as resistance to cold and drought. However, its growth and production area is affected by the presence of the weed and parasitic species Orobanche crenata.
Among other things, there are no effective methods to selectively control the OR crenata in this crop, for this reason it is necessary to develop varieties resistant and tolerant to O. crenata infection. Plant genetic resources are valuable reserves for the survival of species. They represent an important genetic variability and allow the possibility of finding traits of interest, as new sources of resistance.
However the plant was once cultivated in the poorest soils because it was used to send sheep into oestrus or as a particularly energetic fodder for working cattle.
This plant when the legumes open resembles red lentils. For human consumption the bitterness of the seeds must be removed through leaching done with numerous changes of boiling water. Due to this bitterness, it is unlikely that anyone will accidentally confuse this plant with red lentils.
According to Zohary and Hopf, only humans of the poorest economic classes consume this crop, or only in times of famine; however, Pliny the Elder writes that this plant possessed medicinal properties, citing the letter of Augustus in which the Roman emperor wrote that he had regained health with a diet based on vecciola (N.H., 18.38).
At the forage level it is an excellent concentrated feed for sheep and cattle. It has been held in high regard by farmers in the Mediterranean area since the beginning of agriculture to improve the nutritional value of bulk foods.
Among its edibles, the seed can be consumed, cooked and with numerous water changes to eliminate the bitterness, used like lentils.
They can be used occasionally in soups but are more likely to be consumed in times of food shortage when.
On the other hand, no particular medicinal uses are known.
Instead, it is a useful plant in the green manure technique.

Preparation Method –
Ervilia sativa is a plant of very ancient cultivation that is now less and less used both in the field of human and animal nutrition.
In addition to being a fodder and an interesting green manuring plant, it can be used, with great caution, and with the technique of leaching the seeds, to eliminate the bitter taste, in the food sector and used as lentils or adding the seeds to soups and broths.

Guido Bissanti

Sources
– Acta Plantarum – Flora of the Italian Regions.
– Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
– GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
– Useful Tropical Plants Database.
– Conti F., Abbate G., Alessandrini A., Blasi C. (ed.), 2005. An annotated checklist of the Italian vascular flora, Palombi Editore.
– Pignatti S., 1982. Flora of Italy, Edagricole, Bologna.
– Treben M., 2000. Health from the Lord’s Pharmacy, Advice and experiences with medicinal herbs, Ennsthaler Editore.
Photo source:
– https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/181512568/original.jpeg

Warning: Pharmaceutical applications and alimurgical uses are indicated for informational purposes only, they do not represent in any way a medical prescription; therefore no responsibility is taken for their use for curative, aesthetic or food purposes.