VETCH, n. [L. vicia. We see vetch if from the root of weigh, wag, wiggle, and signifies a little roller.] A plant of the leguminous kind, with papilionaceous flowers, of the genus Vicia. It is a common name of most species of the genus. The name is also applied, with various epithets, to many other leguminous plants of different genera; as the chichling vetch, of the genus Lathyrus; the horseshoe vetch, of the genus Hippocrepis; the milk vetch, of the genus Astragalus, &c.
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