Medicago arabica (L.) Huds.

Spotted medick (en), Luzerne tachée (fr), Luzerne tachetée (fr), Luzerne d'Arabie (fr), Luzerne maculée (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Fabales > Fabaceae > Medicago

Characteristics

Annual herbs, 40-65 cm. Stems decumbent or spreading, longitudinally ridged, sparsely hairy, hairs simple and multi­cellular-glandular. Stipules ovate-lanceolate, 5-12 mm, incised, with 6-8 deep lobes; petioles slender, 2-8(-12) cm, 2-5 × as long as peduncle; leaflets usually with a dark colored patch at center, obcordate to broadly obovate, 7-25(-30) × 14-32 mm, sparsely hairy abaxially, glabrous adaxially, base broadly cu­neate, margin subentire or shallowly serrate, apex rounded or emarginate. Flowers (1 or)2-5(or 6) in axillary racemes; pedun­cles with a terminal cusp; bracts ca. 1 mm; pedicels longer than or equal to bracts. Corolla yellow, 5-6.5 mm; stan­dard broadly obovate, retuse. Legume cylindric to globose, 5-7 mm, tightly coiled in 3-7 spirals, turning counterclockwise, 5-8 radial veins on coil face, spines 13-15 in each row. Seed yellowish brown, oblong-elliptic, 2.5-3.5 × 1.2-1.5 mm, smooth. Fl. Mar-May, fr. May-Aug.
More
Procumbent, annual herb; stems ± glabrous. Lvs almost glabrous or sparsely hairy on petiole and under surface of leaflets, glabrous above; petioles c. 10-60-(150) mm long; leaflets mostly obtriangular, obtuse to slightly emarginate or slightly acute, mucronate, obtuse to cuneate at base, serrate near apex, usually with dark markings, c. 5-20 mm long; terminal petiolule 2-4 mm long; lateral petiolules < 1 mm long; stipules ovate, acuminate, cordate, usually dentate, sometimes laciniate. Infl. 1-5-flowered; peduncles ± glabrous or sparsely hairy, < petioles; pedicels < or = calyx tube. Calyx sparsely hairy; calyx teeth narrowly triangular, = or > tube. Corolla yellow, 4-6 mm long. Pod ± glabrous, coiled in 3-7 turns without a hole in the centre, faintly reticulately veined and with a double row of spines at the margin, 3-7 mm diam. (excluding spines), few-seeded; seeds yellow to brown, c. 3 mm long.
A bean family herb. It grows each year from seed. It grows 40-65 cm tall. The stems are spreading.
Life form annual
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination
Spread epizoochory
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.3 - 0.63
Root system tap-root
Rooting depth (meter) 0.5
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer rhizobia
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It is a temperate plant.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 5-10

Usage

The leaves are cooked with vegetables.
Uses animal food dye environmental use experimental purposes fodder forage green manure ornamental pasture vertebrate poison
Edible leaves
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 15 - 28
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Medicago arabica habit picture by David Hocken (cc-by-sa)
Medicago arabica habit picture by Pierre Bernardy (cc-by-sa)
Medicago arabica habit picture by Gui ferl (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Medicago arabica leaf picture by pierre carret (cc-by-sa)
Medicago arabica leaf picture by Anaïs Persico (cc-by-sa)
Medicago arabica leaf picture by Rädisch Helmer (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Medicago arabica flower picture by Sophie autef (cc-by-sa)
Medicago arabica flower picture by manon issard (cc-by-sa)
Medicago arabica flower picture by jana Rz (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Medicago arabica fruit picture by epoqueepique (cc-by-sa)
Medicago arabica fruit picture by Gisèle bomier (cc-by-sa)
Medicago arabica fruit picture by Martine CHOCHOI (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Medicago arabica world distribution map, present in Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Algeria, Egypt, Spain, Estonia, France, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Luxembourg, Morocco, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Ukraine, United States of America, and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:58427-3
WFO ID wfo-0000213417
COL ID 3YNJ2
BDTFX ID 41184
INPN ID 107574
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Medicago talyschensis Medicago maculata Medicago cordata Medica echinata Medicago maculata Medicago oxalioides Medica arabica Medica maculata Medicago maculata Medicago polymorpha var. arabica Medicago denticulata var. brevispina Medicago arabica f. elegans Medicago arabica f. heptacycla Medicago arabica f. pastoralis Medicago arabica subsp. inermis Medicago arabica var. longispina Medicago arabica var. minor Medicago maculata var. tetraphylla Medicago maculata var. tetraphylla Medicago arabica

Lower taxons

Medicago arabica var. maculata