XI 



LEGUMINOUS FORAGE CROPS 



i. BLACK MEDIC 



234. Description. Black medic or 

 yellow trefoil (Medicago lupulina L.) 

 is in appearance similar to alfalfa, 

 but is smaller in all its parts. Its 

 stems are spreading, four inches to 

 two feet in length, and, unless grown 

 with other crops, seldom reaching 

 above nine to twelve inches high. It 

 bears small roundish heads of yellow 

 flowers, which, as they ripen, become 

 a spike-like cluster of almost jet black, 

 one-seeded, somewhat kidney-shaped, 

 strongly veined pods. These pods, 

 with the calyx persisting, easily fall 

 off, but the pods do not open readily, 

 hence black medic seed is quite likely 

 to contain seeds in which the very 

 characteristic pods have not been re- 

 moved. Black medic begins to flower 

 in May and, if not cut, will continue 

 for a couple of months, the lower 

 flower clusters becoming fully ripe 

 while the upper ones are still forming. 



The tap root grows about a foot in Black medic, showing mature clus- 



depth; otherwise it is similar to al- ters , f aeeda - Abou ' one ^ alf 



natural size. From photo taken 

 falfa, only smaller. June 28 in central New York. 



2OI 



