Broad Bean - Vicia faba
An erect plant to 1 metre in height. The compound leaves usually have up to 6 large, broad, oval leaflets. The flowers are large, white with dark purple markings.
Waste places, rubbish dumps and disturbed soils, often close to habitation or to fields where it is grown as a crop.
In flower from May to August.
Annual.
Widespread as a casual escape from cultivation in England, more scattered elsewhere in Britain.
Occasional casual escape from cultivation in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
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UK Map
Species profile
- Common names
- Field Bean, Broad Bean
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Fabales
- Family:
- Fabaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 12
- First record:
- 18/06/2015 (Calow, Graham)
- Last record:
- 07/04/2025 (Pugh, Dylan)
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% of records within its species group
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Black Bean Aphid
Black Bean Aphid (Aphis fabae) feeds on a wide range of plants, trees shrubs and certain vegetables (mainly beans and peas). Adult aphids are up to 2mm long and elliptical in shape. They are black in colour, although they can also appear dark green or purple.







