MEDICAGO ORBICULARIS

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. MEDICAGO

Common Names:- Large disc medick

Homotypic Synonyms:- Medica inermis, Medica orbicularis, Medicago

polymorpha var. orbicularis, Pocockia orbicularis.

Meaning:- Medicago (Gr) Median-grass, A name used by the Greek physician

and botanist Dioscorides, from a Persian name for lucerne, or medick.

Orbicularis (L) Disc-shaped, circular in outline, orbicular.

General description:- Annual, usually glabrous.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets, rather large (usually 8-12 mm), obovate-cuneate to obtriangular, dentate

in the upper half.

2) Stipules, laciniate.

Flower:-

1) Peduncle, 1-2(-5)-flowered, somewhat longer than the petiole of the subtending

leaf.

2) Corolla, 4-5 mm, lemon yellow.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, discoid, when mature, tightly coiled, 12-16 mm in diam, glabrous,

margins smooth, without spines; surface of the coils with thin, reticulate veins.

2) Young fruit protruding sideways from the calyx, in a gradually contracted spiral.

Key features:-

1) Legume, discoid, when mature, tightly coiled, 12-16 mm in diam,

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Sandy coastal habitats, dry open shrubby vegetation, field margins, olive

groves. 0-900(-1500) m.

Distribution:- Common throughout the Mediterranean region and SW Asia

eastwards to Afghanistan. Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar-May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton