Herbs: shoots usually glabrous or glabrescent, hairs usally eglandular, sparse, rarely gland-tipped. Stems usually procum­bent, some­times ascending. Stipules: margins laciniate. Leaflets: blades obovate to cuneate, 7–13 × 5–10 mm, margins serrate on distal 1/3–2/3. Inflorescences 1- or 2(–5)-flowered, racemes, usually 1 pod developing on each peduncle. Flowers 3–4(–6) mm; calyx glabrous or sparsely hairy, hairs eglandular, lobes equal to tube; corolla yellow, to 2 times length of calyx. Legumes with (2–)3–7 coils, lenticular or discoid, 5–10 × 8–20(–24) mm, coil edges papery at margins, glabrous, glabrescent, sometimes hairs gland-tipped; coil face with fusing radial veins, often thickened at coil margin. Seeds 9–30, yellow, brownish yellow or reddish brown, triangular, 2.5–3 × 2.5–3 mm. 2n = 16.

Phenology: Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat: Ruderal and fallow habi­tats, hilly slopes.
Elevation: 0–600 m.

Distribution

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Introduced; Ala., Calif., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ky., La., Md., Miss., N.J., N.C., Okla., Pa., Tenn., Tex., s Europe, w Asia, n Africa, introduced also in South America (Argentina), s Africa, Pacific Islands (Hawaii), Australia.

Discussion

Medicago orbicularis is cultivated to a minor degree as a forage plant, and there is at least one cultivar; it is uncertain if it is native or introduced in Europe and central Asia.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.