Medicago arborea L.
tree medick
Erect, perennial shrub; stems densely sericeous. Lvs densely sericeous on petiole and undersurface of leaflets, almost glabrous above; petioles c. 5-25 mm long; leaflets obovate or obtriangular, acute or obtuse to slightly emarginate, usually mucronate, obtuse to cuneate at base, ± entire or irregularly serrate near apex, uniform in colour, c. 8-25 mm long; terminal petiolule (2)-3-6 mm long; lateral petiolules c. 1 mm long; stipules triangular, acuminate, entire. Infl. 4-10-(12)-flowered; peduncles densely sericeous, > petioles; pedicels > calyx tube. Calyx hairy; calyx teeth narrowly triangular, < or ± = tube. Corolla yellow to golden or orange, 10-15 mm long. Pod moderately hairy but becoming ± glabrous when mature, coiled in 1-11/2 turns with a hole through the centre, reticulately veined but otherwise smooth, 10-15 mm diam., few-seeded; seeds brown, c. 4-5 mm long.
N.: established locally as an escape from cultivation in Wellington City and coastal S.W. Wellington Province; S.: McCormacks Bay and Mt Pleasant (Christchurch).
Canary Is, S. Europe to Asia Minor 1958
Sand dunes, coastal cliffs and hillsides.
FL Aug-Nov.
Tree medick has been used as a fodder plant since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
