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Medicago

L. (1753)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Genus: Medicago

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Annual or perennial herbs or sometimes small shrubs.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves compound (pinnately trifoliate). Alternate. Margins laciniate, dentate, or serrate margins. Leaflets with veins extending to the dentate or serrate margins. Petiolate. Stipules adnate to petiole.

Flowers: Flowers in axillary racemes or heads, with an explosive tripping mechanism, bracts short. Flowers papilionaceous; bracteoles absent. Calyx campanulate, the tube short, 5-toothed, the teeth subequal. Corolla variously colored, deciduous after anthesis, distinct from staminal tube, standard obovate to oblong, keel obtuse, shorter than wings. Stamens 10; upper filament distinct, the other 9 connate into a tube, none of the filaments dilated. Ovary superior, sessile; ovules (1–)several; style subulate, glabrous.

Fruit: Pods exserted from calyx; reniform; strongly curved; or spirally coiled up to 5 turns; usually indehiscent; often with prickles arising along veins and margins. Seeds 1 to several; reniform or curved.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Images

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Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Island Status

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Notes

  • 0-1,220m
  • Description digitized by Medicago polymorpha L.
  • Description digitized from the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii
  • First collected on Oahu in 1909
  • Straight prickles 2-3mm long

Bibliography

Name Published In: Sp. Pl.: 778 (1753)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Scientific Name Authorship Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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