View source for Medicago

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Medicago (name originally from the country Media). Leguminosae. Medick. Forage plants, and a few grown for ornament.

Herbs or rarely shrubs, with small pinnatelv 3-foliolate lvs. and denticulate lfts., and mostly small, purple or yellow fls. in heads or short racemes: stamens 9 and 1, diadelphous: fr. a small spiral or curved, rough or pubescent indehiscent 1- to few-seeded pod: fl. with an obovate or oblong standard and obtuse mostly short keel.— Species probably 50 in Eu., Asia, Afr. Four or 5 species have become weeds in N. Amer. A few are somewhat cult. for ornament. The one important species, from an agricultural point of view, is alfalfa. One species (and perhaps more) is cult. for the odd pods, which are sometimes used by Old World gardeners as surprises or jokes, and are occasionally grown in this country as oddities. See also Scorpiurus. Some of the medicagoes simulate clovers in appearance, but the twisted or spiral pods distinguish them. Aside from the following, 2 or 3 species have been used more or less in this country for forage, as M. hispida, Willd., and M. arabica, Huds.. both yellow-fld. annuals. M. orbicularis, All., of S. Eu., a very small-fld., yellow annual species with large smooth pods, may be valuable for forage.
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