[5] Vicia tenuifolia was described by German botanist Albrecht Wilhelm Roth in his work Tentamen florae germanicae in 1788.

[3] Its alternately arranged leaves are pinnately compound and most of the times consist of 10–18 pairs of narrowly linear to oblong leaflets.

Stipules are present; they are narrowly linear, with entire leaf margin and end with a sharpened point.

[5] This vetch species is widely distributed across Europe (especially the Euro-Mediterranean region,[9] south and central Europe[10]) and occurs also in some parts of Asia (usually those that are either temperate either tropical,[1] mostly southwestern and central Asia[10]), as well as in northern Africa.

[11] Vicia tenuifolia usually grows in a variety of habitats, which can include both natural and urban areas.

[5] This vetch is mostly an inhabitant of lowlands,[6] where it can be found in dry meadows and forest edges, as well as on grassy banks, verges or waste ground, especially near railways,[6] where it is a ruderal species.