Flora of Northern Ireland
Medicago lupulina
© Graham Day
Medicago lupulina
© Paul Hackney
Medicago lupulina
(Map updated: March 2008)
 

A low-growing native annual species with clover-like leaves, each leaflet bearing a minute point at its apex (contrast the similar-looking Trifolium dubium). The tiny yellow flowers are borne in a rounded head and the black one-seeded pods which succeed them are coiled into a circle - a general characteristic of the genus Medicago. It is a very common plant of bare ground and waste places.

All names: Medicago lupulina L.