Edible seeds. Honey nectar plants.

Vicia faba is an erect, robust annual herb growing up to 2 metres tall. It has a stout, square stem, which is hollow and has additional basal branches. The plant has a well-developed taproot with strong lateral roots. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stem; each leaf is paripinnate (terminating in a leaflet pair), composed of 2-6 leaflets. Faba bean has conspicuous stipules (appendages at the base of the leaf) which are toothed at the margins and vary widely in shape. The leaflets are ovate to elliptical and are up to 10 x 4 cm in size. The stalked flowers are arranged on an unbranched axis (a raceme). The racemes are short, 1-6 flowered and axillary (arising from the point between the main stem and a leaf). The flowers are fragrant, the petals white, the outermost petal (the standard) marked with a central, basal, dark brown or black blotch, and are papilionaceous resembling, for example, the pea ( Pisum sativum ) flower. Each flower has 10 stamens, nine of which are fused into a partial tube, with the tenth stamen free. The ovary is positioned above the sepals, petals and stamens. The style is approximately 3mm long and is abruptly upturned, with a tuft of hairs near the stigma. The fruit is a narrowly oblong, cylindrical to a laterally flattened pod up to 30 cm long containing up to 6 seeds. The seeds are 1-3 cm in diameter and are ovoid to oblong in shape and compressed. The colours of the seeds range from brown to reddish or green. Flowering from January-March.

Cultivated places and farms.