Medicago polymorpha
Medicago polymorpha
Kırkyonca
Subglabrous annual, 15-40 cm. Stipules laciniate. Leaflets 8-20 x 7-15 mm, obovate to cuneate, obtuse, truncate or most often retuse with a protruding terminal tooth . Peduncle 2-10-flowered; peduncle/petiole ratio inconstant. Flowers 3,5-6 mm. Calyx teeth about equal to tube. Corolla as a rule less than 2 x calyx. Young fruit protruding sideways from calyx. Fruit discoid to cylindrical, 2-12 mm high, glabrous, spiny or spineless; coils 1 ½ -6, loose, sometimes hardened at maturity, broadest coil 3,5-10 mm diam.; all coils of fruit equal or diam. of coils gradually diminishing towards last; surface of coils with many radial veins, profusely anastomosing near the submarginal vein, ± 15 tubercles or spines from each side of coil; spines grooved, up to 4 mm, angle of insertion decreasing gradually from 1800 in first two coils to 900 in last. Fl. 3-5. Rocky limestone slopes, fallow fields and waste places s.l.-900 m.
1. Spines of fruit thick and hardened; coils 4-6, hardening at maturity, diam. of broadest 5-8 mm ; inflorescence usually few-flowered ..........var. polymorpha
1. Spines of fruit slender; coils 1 ½ -3 ½ , usually soft, even at maturity, diam. of broadest 3-5 mm; inflorescence often many-flowered ...........var. vulgaris
M. polymorpha is distributed throughout the Old World, except for tropical regions and deserts.
