Smooth Tare - Ervum tetraspermum

Description

Short to medium plant. Leaves with 3 to 6 pairs of wide oblong leaflets. Flowers pale purple 4 to 8 mm in 1 or 2 flowered racemes. Pod brown, usually 4 seeded, hairless.

Similar Species

Hairy Tare is similar but the two species can be separated with care. Smooth Tare flowers are larger and more purple in colour. See the marked diagram below for a comparison of the two species.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Dry grassy places, rough grassland, roadside verges.

When to see it

May to August.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Found fairly frequently in England as far north as the Humber, rare and casual in Scotland and infrequent in Wales.

VC55 Status

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 44 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Smooth Tare
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Fabales
Family:
Fabaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
73
First record:
21/09/1998 (Anthony Fletcher)
Last record:
10/08/2023 (Smith, Peter)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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