9&8 MEDICAGO. [CLASS XVII. ORDER III. 
nating in a point often between a notch at the apex, the margin 
entire, or finely toothed upwards, the lateral leaflets nearly sessile, 
the middle one on a short stalk. Stipules ovate lanceolate, entire, or 
toothed on the margin towards the base. Inflorescence axillary 
spikes of numerous small crowded flowers, forming an ovate head, 
elongated when in fruit, elevated on a slender peduncle longer than 
the leaves. Calyx downy. Legumes ovate, kidney-shaped, netted 
with elevated lines, dark brown, smooth, or clothed with jointed hairs 
or sometimes glandular, single seeded. 
Habitat—Meadows, fields, and waste places ; common. 
Annual; flowering during the summer months. 
This species has the general appearance and habit of Trifolium 
filiforme, and appears to be equally as valuable as that plant for 
agricultural purposes, especially in a dry sandy or gravelly soil; and 
from the abundance of seeds which it produces all the summer, it is 
well suited for permanent pastures. 
vk Legumes spinous. 
4. M. macu'lata, Sibth. (Fig. 1147.) Spotted Medick. Stems pro- 
cumbent ; leaflets broadly obcordate, obtusely toothed; stipules 
ovate lanceolate, cut, and toothed; peduncles three to six flowered, 
not half as long as the leaves; Jegumes spirally twisted, globose, 
depressed at each end, smooth, obliquely veined, the margin four 
ribbed, and crowded with a double row of subulate spines, curved 
and spreading. 
Englisb Flora, vol. iii. p. 319.—Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. 
p- 279.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 83.—M polymorpha, Linn.—English 
Botany, t. 1616.—1/. arabica, Withering.—M. Hispida, Gertn. 
Root fibrous. Stem procumbent, from six to twenty inches long, 
angular, furrowed, branched, leafy, and spreading, smooth, or some- 
times downy. Leaves alternate, with long slender channeled petioles, 
leaflets three, broadly obcordate, smooth or silky, dark green above, 
and marked with an irregular lunate dark purplish brown spot, paler 
beneath the margin, unequally and obtusely toothed, the lateral ones 
nearly sessile, the middle one on a short footstalk. Stipules ovate 
lanceolate, irregularly cut into awl-shaped teeth, spreading, smooth or 
silky, ribbed. Inflorescence axillary clusters of from two to six 
flowers, elevated on a peduncle, about one-third the length of the 
leaves. Flowers small, yellow, each on a short pedicle, from the axis 
of an awl-shaped bractea. Legume globose, compressed, and some- 
what concave at each end, spirally twisted into five rather loose 
whorls, the margin with four elevated lines, and a double row of 
arched awl-shaped spines, alternately spreading in opposite directions, 
the sides paler than the margin, and netted with elevated very oblique 
almost circular lines, when ripe a dark brown, almost black, smooth, 
or somewhat downy. Seeds yellow, kidney-shaped. 
