Flora of New Zealand Series

bur medick

Procumbent, annual herb; stems ± glabrous. Lvs almost glabrous or sparsely hairy on petioles and undersurface of leaflets, glabrous above; petioles c. 5-40 mm long; leaflets mostly obovate, acute to obtuse or emarginate, obtuse to cuneate at base, serrate in upper 1/2, uniform in colour, c. 5-15 mm long; terminal petiolule (1.5)-3-7 mm long; lateral petiolules < 1.5 mm long; stipules ovate, acuminate, laciniate. Infl. 1-5-flowered; peduncles ± glabrous, <, = or > petioles; pedicels < calyx tube. Calyx usually sparsely hairy; calyx teeth triangular, acuminate, ± =, or > tube. Corolla yellow, 3-5 mm long. Pod ± glabrous, coiled in 11/2-6 turns, without a hole in the centre, distinctly reticulately veined and with a double row of spines at the margin (spines sometimes reduced to tubercles only), 4-8 mm diam. (excluding spines), few-seeded; seeds yellow to brown, c. 3 mm long.

N.: locally common throughout but not collected from Taranaki; S.: Nelson City and in the E. from Marlborough Sounds to Southland, also collected once from Greymouth; K., Ch.

Europe, Asia, N. Africa 1855

Waste places, thin pasture, riverbeds, lawns, and coastal areas.

FL Jul-May.

Poisonous (Connor 1977).

Bur medick is a somewhat variable sp. in N.Z.; all forms are distinguished from M. arabica by the lack of dark lf markings, the distinctly reticulately veined pods (Fig. 65), and usually by the ± erect spines. The spines of the pods vary somewhat and extreme forms are given varietal recognition in some treatments; plants with the spines reduced to small tubercles have been collected from Auckland City, Matakana (Northland), Gisborne City and Nelson City and might be referred to var. brevispina (Benth.) Heyn. Bur medick has been previously known in N.Z. as M. denticulata, M. hispida and M. polymorpha.