Flora of North America species comparison

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Medicago monspeliaca

hairy medic, hairy medick
Habit Herbs: shoots pubescent, hairs eglandular.
Stems

prostrate to ascending.
Leaflets

blades obovate, obovate-cuneate, oval, ovate, or globose, (3–)4–10(–13) × (2.5–)3–7(–10) mm, margins usually serrate, sometimes laciniate or incised, on distal 1/2–3/4.
Inflorescences

4–18-flowered, capitate or subumbellate, with stellate flowers, deflexed fruits.
Flowers

3.5–5 mm;

calyx pubescent, hairs eglandular, lobes longer than tube;

corolla yellow, slightly longer than calyx.
Legumes

linear, slightly compressed, 7–15(–25) × 1–2 mm, pubescent or glabrous, margin prickleless;

faces with obliquely transverse, anastomosing, prominent veins.
Seeds

4–10, yellow or yellow-brown, rhomboid-ovoid, 1–1.6 × 0.7–1.1 mm.
Stipules

margins dentate to incised.
2n

= 16.

Medicago monspeliaca
Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Fallow fields, roadsides.
Elevation 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; MA; MD; NY; s Europe; c Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America (Argentina, Chile), Australia]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Medicago > sect. Buceras
Sibling taxa
M. arabica, M. laciniata, M. lupulina, M. minima, M. orbicularis, M. polymorpha, M. praecox, M. rigidula, M. sativa, M. scutellata, M. truncatula, M. turbinata
Synonyms Trigonella monspeliaca
Name authority (Linnaeus) Trautvetter: Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg 8: 272. (1841)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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