Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Medicago sativa
Common name
Lucerne, Alfalfa
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Grassy areas, roadsides, and disturbed sites. Mainly Sydney area and the ACT. Sporadic elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced perennial herb to 1.2 m tall. Stems more or less hairy. Leaves alternating up the stems, compound, with 3 leaflets each 0.5-3 cm long, 3-15 mm wide, upper surface hairless or hairy, lower surface often hairy, margins toothed towards the tip, tips blunt, often with a straight point, stipules entire, hairy on lower surface. Flowers 6-15 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, purple to violet, rarely pink to white or yellow. Flowers in 8–35 flowered clusters. Flowers mainly Sep.–May
Medicago sativa subsp. sativa in Vic. (accessed 1 March 2021)
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Medicago~sativa (accessed 1 March 2021)
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