Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Medicago arabica
Common name
Spotted medic, Spotted burr medic
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Woodland, grassy areas, often moist, and disturbed sites. Mainly Sydney area and the ACT. Sporadic elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced annual herb, prostrate or sprawling to more or less erect, branches to 0.6 m long. Seed cases spiny. Stems more or less hairy, sometimes sticky. Leaves alternating along the stems, compound, with 3 leaflets each 0.4-4 cm long, 5–45 mm wide, margins toothed towards the tips; upper surface hairless, usually with a dark patch near the middle, lower surface sparsely appressed-hairy, tips squared off or notched with a terminal tooth, stipules strongly toothed, hairy on lower surface. Standard petal 4-5 mm long. Flowers pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, yellow. Flower clusters 2–5-flowered. Flowers mainly Sep.–Jan.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Medicago~arabica (accessed 24 January, 2021)
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