Medicago laciniata
cut-leaf medick, cutleaf medic
procumbent to ascending.
blades obovate to oblong-cuneate, 5–10 × 2–5 mm, margins laciniate, incised-dentate, incised-pinnatifid, or serrate to deeply serrate on distal 1/2, laciniate and non-laciniate leaves often on same plant.
1- or 2(or 3)-flowered, racemes.
3–6(–8) mm;
calyx pubescent, hairs eglandular, lobes shorter than tube;
corolla pale to dark yellow, less than 2 times length of calyx.
with 3–7(–9) coils, short-cylindrical, spherical, or ovoid, 3–8(–10) × 2.5–6 mm, usually glabrous or glabrescent, rarely pubescent with eglandular hairs, very rarely with glandular hairs, margin prickly, prickles often relatively thin and flexible, base 2-rooted, 1 root arising in dorsal suture, other in submarginal vein;
faces soft, coil face with S-shaped (sigmoid) radial veins, some branched, that enter broad lateral vein near dorsal suture, veinless area occupying outer 1/5 of coil face.
3–14, yellow to yellow-brown, reniform, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm;
radicle 1/2–2/3 seed length.
margins deeply dentate to laciniate.
= 16.
Medicago laciniata
Laciniate leaves occur sporadically in several annual species of Medicago, most frequently in M. laciniata.
Medicago laciniata is an exceptionally drought-tolerant species and in its natural habitat occurs particularly in dry, stony deserts and less commonly in woodlands and grasslands.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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