Burr Medic

Family: Pea (Fabaceae syn. Papilionaceae)

Scientific Name:

Medicago polymorpha

Burr Medic
Photograph courtesy of Viridans Biological Databases (external link)

Other Common Names:

Trefoil, Toothed Medic, Creeping Burr, Medic Burr, Rough Medic

Status:

Native to the Mediterranean but found throughout the world.

Plant Description:

Prostrate annual forb, with stems to 50 cm long, sometimes twining, and growing erect when mixed with taller plants (to around 10 cm tall). Leaves each composed of three leaflets borne on short stalks at the end of the main leaf stalk, the terminal leaflet on a longer stalk than the other two. Leaflets wedge shaped, 8 – 20 mm long and 7-15 mm broad, blunt at the tip, the margins finely toothed towards the tip.

Flowers yellow and pea-like, 3 – 6 mm long. Fruit is a pod, disc-like or cylindrical, 3 –4 mm diameter, covered with slender spreading and mostly hooked spines to 4 mm long which are often soft when mature. Flowering spring

Habitat:

Found in a wide variety of vegetation communities ranging from open grasslands to shrublands and woodlands, and grows on a wide range of soils, but does best in alkaline soils. Grows most prolifically on heavy clays.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Mallee, Loddon Murray, Central and Northern, Wimmera, Western, Gippsland	S0, S1	W0, W1, W2

Comments:

Burr Medics, and particularly the more recently developed spineless cultivars, are often sown in annual rainfall environments; proving to provide good tolerance in moderately saline situations.

Burr Medic fruit Photo: A J Brown	Burr Medic plant Photo: A J Brown
Leaves and flowers of Burr Medic Photo: A J Brown

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