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Annual; stems prostrate to ascending, branched from the base, usually glabrous or nearly so, 2–5 dm; stipules deeply incised; lfls triangular-obovate, 6–15 mm, two-thirds as wide, obtuse to retuse, glabrous, or obscurely villosulous beneath; peduncles about equaling the subtending petioles; fls yellow, mostly 2–5(–8) per head, 2.5–4 mm; fr 2–5 times spirally coiled, 4–6 mm wide excluding the spines, these 2–3 mm, arising in 2 rows from an elevated ridge, minutely hooked at the tip; 2n=14. Native of the Mediterranean region, now established as a weed in s. U.S. and the Pacific states, and occasionally adventive in our range. Summer. (M. hispida)
Annual, procumbent herb, 0.2-0.6 m high; branched from long taproot, glabrous. Central leaflets up to 20 x 15 mm, cuneate to obovate. Stipules laciniate, lower surface glabrous, sparsely hairy along margins. Inflorescence 1-5-flowered raceme. Flowers 4-6 mm long. Calyx with teeth ± equal to length of tube. Petals: standard widely obovate, emarginate; wings longer than keel. Flowering time Aug.-Dec. Pod 1-5 per raceme, discoid, coils 1-7; spineless or spines up to 4 mm long, mostly glabrous; seeds partitioned.
An annual herb. It lies along the ground. The stem are 50 cm long. Sometimes they twine and climb over other plants. The leaves are made up of 3 small leaflets on a short stalk. The leafy stipules near their base are deeply lobed and taper to a point. The flowers are yellow and pea-like. They are 6 mm long. Up to 6 flowers occur at the ends of branches or in the axils of leaves near the ends. The fruit is a spiny spiral pod. It is 8 mm across. There are 3 varieties depending on the shape of these spines.
Prostrate or ascending, subglabrous annual, stems up to 0.6 m long. Leaves 3-foliolate, leaflets obovate to obcordate, minutely toothed towards apex. Flowers 2-7, in a raceme on peduncle 10(-20) mm long with a terminal awn present or absent, yellow. Pod loosely 1.5-6-coiled, curved or hooked at tip, distinctly reticulate, softly spiny to sometimes spineless or tuberculate.
Annual herb. Stems procumbent, up to 0.6 m long. Leaves with central leaflets 9-20 x 7-20 mm; stipules laciniate. Flowers: raceme 1-5-flowered, peduncle < twice the length of petiole of subtending leaf; calyx teeth longer than tube; corolla with wings longer than keel, yellow; Aug.-Oct. Burrs with 1.5-7 coils turning clockwise; spiny, with partitions between seeds.
