Medicago laciniata
(L.) Mill.
Fabaceae
Medicago aschersoniana Urb.
Medicago leonis Sennen & Mauricio
Medicago polymorpha laciniata L.
Common Name: Tattered Medick
General Information
Medicago laciniata is a spreading, annual plant with weak, ascending stems that branch freely at the base - it can grow 20 - 50cm tall[
74- Title
- Flora of the USSR.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Komarov. V. L.
- Website
- http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
- Publisher
- Israel Program for Scientific Translation
- Year
- 1968
- ISBN
- -
- Description
- An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a tea.
Known Hazards
None known
Botanical References
74- Title
- Flora of the USSR.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Komarov. V. L.
- Website
- http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
- Publisher
- Israel Program for Scientific Translation
- Year
- 1968
- ISBN
- -
- Description
- An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
,
308- Title
- Flora Zambesiaca
- Publication
-
- Author
-
- Website
- http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html
- Publisher
-
- Year
- 0
- ISBN
-
- Description
- An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.
Range
Northern and eastern Africa - Morocco to Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania; Arabian Peninsula, western Asia from Israel, Syria, to India.
Habitat
Sandy and stony deserts and dry steppe areas at elevations up to about 400 metres[
]. Grassland, woodland, disturbed ground; short dry grassland, pastures especially where seasonally water logged at elevations from 1,150 - 2,200 metres[
328- Title
- African Flowering Plants Database
- Publication
-
- Author
-
- Website
- http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php
- Publisher
- Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques.
- Year
- 0
- ISBN
-
- Description
- Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
].
Properties
| Edibility Rating |  |
| Medicinal Rating |  |
| Habit | Annual |
| Height | 0.00 m |
| Pollinators | Self |
| Self-fertile | Yes |
| Cultivation Status | Wild |
Cultivation Details
Medicago laciniata is a plant of arid and semi-arid areas from the warm temperate to the tropical zones, where it is found at elevations up to 400 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 15 - 20°c, but can tolerate 4 - 25°c[
]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 350 - 500mm, but tolerates 250 - 600mm[
].
Requires a sunny position in a light, well-drained soil[
]. Succeeds in soils of low to moderate fertility[
]. Prefers a pH in the range 6.5 - 7.5, tolerating 6 - 8[
]. Established plants are drought tolerant[
].
This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[
200- Title
- The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.
- Publication
-
- Author
- Huxley. A.
- Publisher
- MacMillan Press
- Year
- 1992
- ISBN
- 0-333-47494-5
- Description
- Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
].
Edible Uses
The herb is used as a condiment for tea, or is mixed with boiled water and sugar to form a beverage[
301- Title
- Cornucopia II
- Publication
-
- Author
- Facciola. S.
- Publisher
- Kampong Publications, California.
- Year
- 1998
- ISBN
- 0-9628087-2-5
- Description
- The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
].
Medicinal
Aqueous, ethanol and butanol crude extracts of the aerial parts of the plant were tested for antimicrobial activity. The butanol extract was the most effective, followed by the ethanol extract. The aqueous extract had low activity. The butanol extract at 2000 μg/disc had a superior antifungal activity compared with the standard treatments of chloramphenicol, tetracycline and nalidixic acid[
1520- Title
- Screening of some indigenous Qatari medicinal plants for antimicrobial activity
- Publication
- Phytotherapy Research, Vol 16, Issue 8 pp 751-753, 2002
- Author
- Adel M Mahasneh
- Website
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.1037
- Publisher
-
- Year
- 2002
- ISBN
-
- Description
-
].
Other Uses
None known
Propagation
Seed - sow in situ.
If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. Comments have to be approved before they are shown here.
Useful Tropical Plants Database 2014 by
Ken Fern,
web interface by
Ajna Fern
with help from
Richard Morris.
