2 
MEDICAGO 
4. Medicago circinata, or kidney-podded medic: le¬ 
gumes kidney-form, toothed at the edge; leaves pinnate. 
The whole plant is pubefcent. Stalks a foot and a half 
long, trailing. Flowers at the ends of the branches, com¬ 
monly by threes, very feldom two together. Seeds two, 
kidney-form, rufefcent. Native of Spain and Italy ; Ray 
found it in Sicily. Introduced in 1777, by the abbe No- 
lin. But, if this be M. hifpanica of Miller, as it probably 
is, then he cultivated it many years earlier. 
/ 3 . M. cretica, made a feparate fpecies by Miller, is now 
confidered as a variety. It grows naturally in the Archi¬ 
pelago 5 and is an annual plant, from the roots of which 
come out feveral oblong leaves about two inches and a 
half long, narrow at their bafe, but broad towards the 
top, where they are rounded ; thefe fpread on the ground, 
and from among them come out the ftalks, which are 
llender, about a foot long, branching out into fmaller, 
having pinnate hoary leaves: thofe on the lower part of 
the ftalk have two pairs of equal leaflets, terminated by 
an odd one: the upper leaves are ternate. Flowers ter¬ 
minating, fmall, yellow; fucceeded by compreffed pods, 
acutely toothed on the edge, and containing three or 
four feeds. 
5. Medicago obfcura, or doubtful medic: peduncles 
racemed ; legumes kidney-form, quite entire; ftem dif- 
fufed, rough-haired. The plant in flower refembles M. 
polymorph3, but the legumes are very different. Thefe 
agree very nearly in form with thofe of M. circinata, but 
are only half the fize, differ, more bent in, fo that the 
end meets the pod again, which is therefore in a manner 
orbicular. The legume not being fpiral, this is not a va¬ 
riety of M. polymorpha. It is probably a native of Ger¬ 
many. Retzius fufpefts that this may be the M. italica 
of Miller, which he fays grows naturally on the fea-coaft 
in feverai parts of Italy. It is an annual plant, with 
proftrate herbaceous ftalks about a foot long: the flowers 
are produced on flender peduncles arifing from the joints 
of the ftalk; they are about an inch long, and furtain 
five or fix pale-yellow flowers; which are fucceeded by 
fmall thick pods, with entire borders, containing three 
or four fmall feeds. 
6. Medicago fativa, cultivated medic, or lucern : pedun¬ 
cles racemed ; legumes contorted ; ftem upright, fmooth. 
Cultivated medic, or lucern, has a perennial root, with 
annual ftalks, fmooth and ftriated, from a foot and a half 
to two feet, and even almoft three feet, in height, in good 
ground ; branched alternately. Leaves ternate ; leaflets 
elliptic, entire at the bafe, but finely ferrate towards the 
end; the midrib is lengthened into a point; they are 
flishtly downy on their upper furface, fmooth and ftreaked 
with veins on the under, all on pedicels, the middle one 
longeft. The leaves are placed alternately; the leaflets 
are deep green, an inch and a half long, and half an inch 
broad. Peduncles axillary, longer than the leaves. Flowers 
in thick fpikes, from two to three inches in length, 03 
naked peduncles, two inches long: each flower is on a 
fhort pedicel, with an awl-fliaped brafte at the bafe ; calyx 
nearly fmooth, with five awl-fhaped teeth, almoft equal. 
The common colour of the flower is a fine violet purple ; 
but Mr. Miller mentions the following varieties to have 
accidentally arifen from feeds, viz. with pale blue, and 
■with variegated, flowers. Thefe, however, he fays, are 
never fo ftrong as thofe with purple flowers, and there¬ 
fore are to be avoided by cultivators. In the Flora Ruf- 
tica, the corolla, by fome miltake, was coloured of a red 
purple. Villars affirms, that the flowers are white, feldom 
greenifti; and Krocker, that the keel is fometimes i yellow. 
It flowers in June, and the feeds ripen in September. 
This is fhown on the annexed Plate at fig. 1. It is fet 
down as a native of many parts of Europe, even of Eng¬ 
land, where it is probably not indigenous. Linnaeus af- 
figns it to Spain and France; Haller does not regard it as 
a native of Swifferland ; Pbllich thinks it indigenous of 
the Palatinate, becaufe it is found there in places where 
it was never cultivated ; Krocker fuppofes it to have be¬ 
come a denizon of Silefia, where it is now undoubtedly 
found in places that have not been fown with it; Villars 
fpeaks of it as certainly wild in Dtuphine; Ray obferved 
it growing fpontaneoufly about Montpellier, and culti¬ 
vated about Avignon and Geneva. It may poffibly have 
been originally a native of Europe, continuing to be dif- 
regarded till it was imported into Greece from the Eaft, 
after Darius had difeovered it in Media, whence its name. 
It is faid to be the principal green fodder for horfes in 
Perfia to this day. It has been cultivated time immemo¬ 
rial in the fouthern countries of Europe ; but it has not 
even yet gained a firm eftablifliment in Great Britain fo 
as to be cultivated in cohfiderable quantities, though it 
is evident that it will fucceed here as well as in France 
or Swifferland, and that it refills the fevered cold of our 
climate. About the year 1650, fays Mr. Miller, the feeds 
of lucern were brought over from France, and fown here; 
but, whether for want of (kill in the culture, or from re¬ 
luctance to depart from the old beaten track, it was en¬ 
tirely negleCted for many years, fo as to be almoft for¬ 
gotten. In Gerard’s time, we had it only in our gardens, 
“ where it lafteth long,” as he fays, “ with great increafe.” 
Parkinfon, in 1640, informs us, that it was fown in Spain, 
France, and the Low Countries; but does not hint at our 
having it then in England. Hartlib, in 1649 to 1651, 
took fome pains to. make enquiries about it in France. 
It is barely mentioned by Blith, in 1653, as being in great 
credit among the French. Woolridge, in 1668, lays, that 
it is commended for an excellent fodder, but does not 
pretend that it was then cultivated here. It feems to have 
been very little known in the time of Mr. Lille, who is 
faid to have continued his enquiries and experiments to 
the time of his death, in 1732. Mortimer fpeaks of it 
rather by hearfay than from any aftual knowledge of it. 
Tull recommends its culture in his horfe-hoeing hufban- 
dry. But Mr. Miller appears to have been the firlt who 
brought it into that degree of cultivation in which we 
find it at prefent. The attention of the public was called 
to it by the Rev. Walter Harte, about 1757 ; and by Mr. 
Rocque, about the year 1765. The latter lays, that a 
farmer in Kent had then fourteen acres of it; but that 
one-and-twenty years before there w f ere not two hundred 
pounds weight of the feed in London. It was alfo about 
that time encouraged by premiums from the Society of 
Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. 
Lucern has been greatly celebrated for increafing the 
milk of kine; but Haller, who certainly knew it well, af- 
ferts, that cattle are apt to grow tired of it; and that they 
are fubjeft to be blown by it. It does not appear that 
we have found either of thefe inconveniences in England. 
With refpefl to the culture of medic or lucern in the 
fouthern parts of Europe, the Greeks fpeak of it from 
Theophraltus to Diofcorides, the Latins from Virgil to 
Palladius. Even in Italy, however, it feems to have been 
loft from the time of the irruption of the barbarians, and 
to the moderns for fome time ; fince Matthioli owns, in 
the year 1558, that he had never feen it growing. At the 
fame time he fays, it is related that it is abundantly cul¬ 
tivated in Spain, for kine and fheep ; and that it is known 
there by the Arabic name alfalfa. In that country it is 
probable that it was never quite loft. Caftore Durante, 
in 1585, informs us, that it then began to be recovered 
in Italy, and to be fown for the food both of horfes and 
cattle. In Henry the Fourth’s time it was common in 
the fouth of France. Our Barnaby Googe alfo, in 1578, 
fays (from Herelbach), that no better food can be deviled 
for cattle; and that, among all forts of fodder, that is ac¬ 
counted for the chiefeft and belt, which the people of old 
time, and the Italians at prefent, call medica. Mr. Harte, 
however, informs us, that the medica at firlt introduced 
about Rome was not the true lucern, but the Medicago 
polymorpha, or fnaii-medic, as he was affured by curious 
botanills well (killed in agriculture; and farther fays, he 
doubts not but that this fpecies all'o affords very agreeable 
food; fora horfe of his, breaking into his’garden, devoured 
twenty 
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