MEDICAGO RIGIDULA

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

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Medicago agrestis, Medicago gerardi.

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

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

Rigidula (L) Quite stiff.

General description:- Densely pubescent annuals.

Stem:-

1) Up to 50 cm.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets, obovate or obcordate, cuneate, denticulate, near the apex.

2) Stipules, ovate-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, incise-dentate or laciniate, in

the lower half.

Flowers:-

1) Racemes, 1- to 3(-5) flowered.

2) Corolla, 6-7 mm

Fruit:-

1) Legume, In a spiral of 4-7 turns, discoid to cylindrical, nearly always densely

glandular- pubescent, rarely glabrescent, nearly always spiny; transverse

veins strongly curved, scarcely anastomosing; submarginal veins at first

separated from the marginal vein by a shallow groove, becoming confluent wit

it and forming a convex margin when fully ripe.

2) Spines, usually about half as long as the diam., of the legume, somewhat

curved, uncinate.

Key features:-

1) Calyx-teeth, pubescent.

2) Legume, discoid to cylindrical; transverse veins scarcely anastomosing.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Fallow fields, roadsldes and steppe-like habitats, usually 0-1100 m,

occasionally to subalpine levels in Crete and mainland Greece.

Distribution:- Fairly common throughout Peloponnisos, mainland and Ionian

Islands. - Medit. region and SW Asia eastwards to Afghanistan; very variable.

Widespread across Crete.

Flowering time:- Apri-June.

Photos by:- A. N. Other