Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Medicago polymorpha
Common name
Burr medic
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Grassy areas, disturbed sites, and roadsides. Mainly Sydney area south to Jervis Bay, ACT, the western parts of the high country, and the Western Slopes. Sporadic elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced annual herb, prostrate to erect, branches to 0.6 m long. Seed cases often spiny. Stems hairy or hairless. Leaves alternating along the stems, compound, with three leaflets each 0.5-3 cm long, 3–22 mm wide, hairless, sometimes sparsely hairy below, upper surface sometimes with darker flecks, margins toothed, tips blunt or notched, with a small straight point, stipules deeply incised, hairless or hairy on the lower surface. Flowers yellow, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel. Standard petal 3-5 mm long. Flowers in clusters of 1–10 flowers. Flowers mainly Aug.–Nov.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Medicago~polymorpha (accessed 24 January, 2021)
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