Flora of New Zealand Series

woolly bur medick

Erect or procumbent, annual herb; stems densely villous, particularly in upper part. Lvs densely hairy on petiole and both surfaces of leaflets; petioles c. 2-10 mm long; leaflets usually narrowly obovate, usually slightly emarginate, sometimes acute or obtuse, mucronate, obtuse to cuneate at base, serrate near apex, uniform in colour, c. 5-10 mm long; terminal petiolule 1-4 mm long; lateral petiolules < 1 mm long; stipules ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, usually shallowly dentate, sometimes entire, cordate at base. Infl. 1-6-flowered; peduncles densely hairy, usually ± = petiole; pedicel usually < calyx tube, sometimes ± = tube. Calyx moderately to densely hairy; calyx teeth narrowly triangular, > tube. Corolla yellow, 3-4 mm long. Pod sparsely to moderately hairy, coiled in 3-5 turns without a hole in the centre, very faintly reticulately veined or ± smooth, with a double row of spines at the margin, 4-6 mm diam. (excluding spines), few-seeded; seeds yellow to brown, 2-3 mm long.

N.: collected once from Napier; S.: locally common in N. Canterbury and vicinity of Christchurch, also collected once from Timaru and Lowburn (C. Otago).

Canary Is, Europe to W. Asia, N. Africa 1940

Waste places, riverbeds, thin pasture, coastal areas.

FL Sep-Nov.

The spines of the fr. in N.Z. material of M. minima are usually ± erect and longer relative to the pod than in M. nigra illustrated in Fig. 65. M. minima is vegetatively similar to M. lupulina but is distinguished by the short, few-flowered head and bur-like pods.