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Useful Temperate Plants

Medicago laciniata

(L.) Mill.

Fabaceae

+ Synonyms

Medicago aschersoniana Urb.

Medicago leonis Sennen & Mauricio

Medicago polymorpha laciniata L.

Common Name: Tattered Medick

Medicago laciniata
Seed pods.
Photograph by: Tracey Slotta @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
Public domain
Medicago laciniata Medicago laciniata

General Information

Medicago laciniata is a spreading, annual plant with weak, ascending stems that branch freely at the base - it can grow 20 - 50cm tall[
74
Title
Flora of the USSR.
Publication
 
Author
Komarov. V. L.
Website
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Publisher
Israel Program for Scientific Translation
Year
1968
ISBN
-
Description
An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a tea.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

74
Title
Flora of the USSR.
Publication
 
Author
Komarov. V. L.
Website
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Publisher
Israel Program for Scientific Translation
Year
1968
ISBN
-
Description
An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
,
308
Title
Flora Zambesiaca
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.

Range

Northern and eastern Africa - Morocco to Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania; Arabian Peninsula, western Asia from Israel, Syria, to India.

Habitat

Sandy and stony deserts and dry steppe areas at elevations up to about 400 metres[
418
Title
Ecocrop
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
]. Grassland, woodland, disturbed ground; short dry grassland, pastures especially where seasonally water logged at elevations from 1,150 - 2,200 metres[
328
Title
African Flowering Plants Database
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php
Publisher
Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques.
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
].

Properties

Edibility Rating *  *
Medicinal Rating *
HabitAnnual
Height0.00 m
PollinatorsSelf
Self-fertileYes
Cultivation StatusWild

Cultivation Details

Medicago laciniata is a plant of arid and semi-arid areas from the warm temperate to the tropical zones, where it is found at elevations up to 400 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 15 - 20°c, but can tolerate 4 - 25°c[
418
Title
Ecocrop
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 350 - 500mm, but tolerates 250 - 600mm[
418
Title
Ecocrop
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
].
Requires a sunny position in a light, well-drained soil[
418
Title
Ecocrop
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
]. Succeeds in soils of low to moderate fertility[
418
Title
Ecocrop
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
]. Prefers a pH in the range 6.5 - 7.5, tolerating 6 - 8[
418
Title
Ecocrop
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
]. Established plants are drought tolerant[
418
Title
Ecocrop
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
].
This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[
200
Title
The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.
Publication
 
Author
Huxley. A.
Publisher
MacMillan Press
Year
1992
ISBN
0-333-47494-5
Description
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
].

Edible Uses

The herb is used as a condiment for tea, or is mixed with boiled water and sugar to form a beverage[
301
Title
Cornucopia II
Publication
 
Author
Facciola. S.
Publisher
Kampong Publications, California.
Year
1998
ISBN
0-9628087-2-5
Description
The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
].

Medicinal

Aqueous, ethanol and butanol crude extracts of the aerial parts of the plant were tested for antimicrobial activity. The butanol extract was the most effective, followed by the ethanol extract. The aqueous extract had low activity. The butanol extract at 2000 μg/disc had a superior antifungal activity compared with the standard treatments of chloramphenicol, tetracycline and nalidixic acid[
1520
Title
Screening of some indigenous Qatari medicinal plants for antimicrobial activity
Publication
Phytotherapy Research, Vol 16, Issue 8 pp 751-753, 2002
Author
Adel M Mahasneh
Website
https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.1037
Publisher
 
Year
2002
ISBN
 
Description
 
].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Pre-soak the seed for 12 hours in warm water and then sow in spring in situ[
200
Title
The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.
Publication
 
Author
Huxley. A.
Publisher
MacMillan Press
Year
1992
ISBN
0-333-47494-5
Description
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
].
Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2024-12-13. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Medicago+laciniata>

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