LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY) 



235 



Time of bloom : March to December. 



Seed-time: May until snow-covered. 



Range : Throughout the world in all temperate regions. 



Habitat: Fields, meadows, waste places. 



Properly speaking, this plant cannot be called a weed, further 

 than that it is much less valuable for hay and forage than its larger 

 relatives. Also the hulled seeds, though a trifle smaller, bear a 

 strong resemblance to those of its tall perennial sister, the Alfalfa 

 (Medicago satlva, L.), and unscrupulous dealers 

 use them to adulterate the expensive Alfalfa 

 seed. Grazing animals eat the plant readily 

 and it makes good pasture. (Fig. 167.) 



Stems slender, softly hairy, one to two feet 

 long, procumbent, branching at the base and 

 spreading on all sides, with many shorter 

 branches which are usually ascending. Leaves 

 pinnately three-foliolate, also finely hairy, with 

 rather long petioles, the leaflets obovate, 

 rounded and slightly toothed at the tips, 

 seldom more than a half-inch in length. Flowers 

 only about one line long, bright yellow, in small, 

 oblong, dense heads or spikes about a quarter- 

 inch thick and usually about twice as long. 

 Pods thin-skinned, kidney-shaped, net-veined 

 and ridged, slightly twisted, containing one seed, 



black when ripe. 



FIG. 167. Black 

 Medick (Medicago 

 Means of control lupulina). x J. 



Cultivation of the land and reseeding heavily with larger and 

 more valuable members of the Clover Family, which will crowd 

 out any renewal of the Medick from dormant seed. 



BUR CLOVER 



Medicago hispida, Gaertn. 

 (Medicago denticulata, Willd.) 



Other English names: Toothed Medick, Winter Medick. 

 Introduced. Annual or biennial. Propagates by seeds. 



