Citation: DC., Cat. Pl. Hort. Bot. Monsp. 123 ( 1813).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Small-leaved burr-medic, plain trefoil.

Description:
Somewhat pubescent annual; branches 5-50 cm long, decumbent or ascending; leaflets obcordate, obovate, 8-12 x 5-13 mm, cuneate, dentate near the apex, usually glabrous above; stipules lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, incise-dentate to pectinate; peduncle slender, 1- or 2-flowered, not cuspidate.

Flowers 3-4 mm long, on pedicels shorter than the calyx tube; bract filiform, to 1 mm long; calyx slightly longer than half of the flower, covered with simple hairs; teeth equalling the tube; petals yellow; standard roundish; wings shorter than the keel.

Young pod emerging from the calyx then turning sideways, pubescent; mature pod subglobose to cylindrical, 3-4 mm diam., straw-coloured to dark-brown, sparsely puberulent, spiny, 3-5 coils in a loose spiral turning clockwise; transverse veins strongly curved, anastomosing near the submarginal vein and forming a tangentially elongated network ending in the lateral vein; dorsal vein prominent, large, rounded, smooth, obscuring a narrow often deep groove between the lateral veins which may be observed more readily in edge on view (the central vein may cover the lateral veins viewed from the edge); spines 10-12 in each row, up to as long as the diameter of the coil, deeply grooved, hooked, inserted at 90ø-130ø to the coil face; seed c. 2 mm long, light- to brownish-yellow, 1 or 2 in each coil.

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

Published illustration: Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 403.

Distribution:  seemingly more common in the drier areas. S.Aust.: FR, EP, MU, SL, SE.   a northern Mediterranean species. In S.Aust. it is probably more widespread than the specimens indicate due to its general similarity with M. polymorpha. 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