Citation: Miller, Gard. Dict. edn 8 (1768

Synonymy: M. polymorpha L. var. intertexta L., Sp. Pl. 780 (1753).

Common name: .Calvary (or hedgehog) medic.

Description:
Nearly glabrous; branches procumbent or ascending, quadrangular, 30-50cm long; leaflets obovate, 6-25 mm long, cuneate, denticulate, sometimes with a dark spot basally; stipules incise-dentate.

Flowers 2 or 3 rarely to 10, distally on sparsely pubescent non-cuspidate peduncles about as long as the corresponding petiole; flowers 8-10 mm long, on pedicels as long as the calyx tube; calyx 3-5 mm long, with few appressed long hairs, teeth equalling the tube; petals yellow to orange-yellow; standard broadly ovate; wings longer than the keel.

Young pod glandular, glabrous, in a loose spiral from the calyx; mature pod glabrous, roundish to elongate, 10-13 mm diam., greyish to dark-brown, spiny; coils 6-10, loose, turning clockwise; veins forming a coarse net in the outer half of the coil face, from which 1 enters 1 root of each spine; spines sharp, appressed, 16-19 in a row, 3-6 mm long, grooved to half of their length, inserted at 90º-120º to the facial plane, arching and usually interlocking with spines of adjacent coils; seed c. 5 x 3 mm, brownish-black to black, 1 or 2 in each coil.

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

Published illustration: K. A. & I. Lesins (1979) Genus Medicago, fig. 69.

Distribution:    W.Aust.; N.S.W.; Vic.   occurs in Europe in the Mediterranean region. The only specimen seen is from a garden at Lucindale collected in 1926. Conservation status: naturalised Flowering time: Nov. (1 record).

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