Citation: Krocker, Fl. Siles. 2, 2:244 (1790).

Synonymy: M. polymorpha L. var. ciliaris L., Sp. Pl. 780 (1753); M. intertext (L.)Miller var. ciliaris (L.)Heyn, Ann. spp. Medicago 129 (1963).

Common name: None

Description:
Sturdy plants; branches 15-50 cm long, vegetative parts glabrous, leaflets oblong, obovate, 10-17 mm long; stipules incise-dentate.

Flowers 1-7 distally on cuspidate glabrescent peduncles 5-7 mm long, on pedicels shorter or longer than the calyx; calyx 3-4 mm long, glabrous or with appressed hairs, teeth equalling the tube; petals bright-yellow; standard broadly ovate; wings equalling the keel in length.

Young pod glabrous; mature pod villous with glandular hairs, greyish to dark-brown, discoid or shortly cylindrical, with smaller end-coils; coils 3-6, loose, 10-12 mm across (without spines), turning clockwise; veins anastomosing, 1 vein entering 1 root of each spine; spines slender, with 2 prongs, 1-2 mm long, in a row of 16-24, inserted at 90ø-180ø to the face of the coil, often pointing in different directions, covered with many-celled hairs; seeds black, c. 4 x 2 mm, 1-3 in each coil.

Image source: fig. 350B in J.P. Jessop and H.R. Toelken Ed. 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).

Published illustration: Heyn (1963) Annual species of Medicago, fig. 32.

Distribution:    Native to Europe in the Mediterranean region, doubtfully established in S.Aust. The only specimen was collected at Roseworthy College in 1912. Conservation status: naturalised Flowering time: July — Nov.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available