Medicago. | XKV. PAPILIONACEA. 107 
more or less clothed with short, soft hairs, Stipules broad and shortly 
toothed. Leaflets obovate. Peduncles longer than the leaves, bearing a 
compact raceme or oblong head of very small bright yellow flowers. Pods 
small, one-seeded, black when ripe, glabrous or slightly hairy, kidney- 
shaped, but marked with veins, curved almost into a complete spire. 
In pastures and waste places, throughout Europe and central and 
Russian Asia, except the extreme north, and often cultivated among 
“artificial grasses.” Frequent in Britain, extending to northern Scotland. 
Fl. the whole season. | 
4, M. denticulata, Willd. (fig. 237). Denticulate Medick.—An annual, 
branching at the base into spreading stems from a few inches to above a 
foot long, glabrous, or with a very few appressed hairs. Stipules bordered 
with fine teeth. Leaflets obovate or obcordate. Flowers very small, in 
little heads, on peduncles rather longer than the leaflets. Pod spirally 
twisted, formed of two or three loose, flat coils, elegantly veined on the 
surface, and usually edged with two rows of more or less hooked or curved 
prickles, but not furrowed between them. 
In cultivated and waste places, especially near the sea, very abundant in 
the Mediterranean region and west central Asia, and carried out with culti- 
vation to many parts of the world. In Britain it appears to have esta- 
blished itself in some of the southern and eastern counties of England. . 
spring and summer. A variety with smaller pods, with the prickles ex- 
ceedingly short and not hooked, has been sometimes considered as a species 
under the name of M. apiculata, Willd. [Another with prickles longer than 
the semi-diameter of the subglobar pod is M. lappacea, Lamk. | 
5, M.maculata, Willd. (fig. 238). Spotted Medick.—An almost 
glabrous annual, so like the last in foliage, stipules, and flowers, that, 
without the fruit, it can be scarcely distinguished but by a few spreading 
hairs on the leafstalks, visible when held up against the light. It is often 
also more luxuriant, the leaflets have usually a dark spot in the centre, 
and the flowers are fewer in the raceme. The pod has 3 or 4 spires, much 
more compact than in M. denticulata, giving the whole pod a more globular 
- form, the surface is less veined, and the edge thicker, more or less furrowed 
between the prickles, which are finer and more curved. 
In cultivated and waste places,.in western and southern Europe to the 
Caucasus, rarely extending into Germany, Not uncommon, especially in 
southern England; found also in southern Ireland, but not in Scotland. 
Fl, spring and summer. 
6. M.minima, Desr. (fig. 239). Bus Medick.—An annual, like the 
last two, but usually smaller and more compact, and clothed with short, 
soft hairs or down. Stipules entire or very shortly toothed. Flowers few, 
minute, on short peduncles. Pod smaller than in the last two species, 
nearly globular, of 2, 3, or 4 compact: spires edged each with a double row 
of hooked prickles. 
In open pastures and waste places, widely spread over Europe and 
western Asia, extending northwards to southern Sweden. Rare in Britain, 
and only in some of the southern and eastern counties of England. /. 
spring and summer. Like other species, it varies much in the size of the 
pods and the length of the prickles; in Britain they are usually small. 
