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Medicago sativa L.
Alfalfa

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 2:778-779 (1753)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Alien to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Erect or sprawling perennial, herb, to 0.6 m high. Fl. violet/purple, Dec or Jan to Apr. Grey sand, brown clay over granite, stony white soil over limestone. Coastal areas, roadsides, agricultural & pastoral areas.

Amanda Spooner, Descriptive Catalogue, 17 August 2007

Scientific Description

Erect, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 15-50 mm long, glabrous, flat with flat margins; margins entire, leaflets 3, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked. Stipules present and persistent to older leaves, 7-12 mm long, without glands, ribless. Pedicel present, 2-2.5 mm long, hairy. Calyx 6-7 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs. Corolla 9-10 mm long, uniformly coloured, purple, auriculate (?) or not auriculate (?), keel 7-8 mm long, not beaked, glabrous. Stamens ten. Fruit stipitate, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, hairy, with simple hairs. Flowers in January, February, March, April and December. Occurs in the Eremaean and South-West Botanical Province, in the Carnarvon, Murchison, Coolgardie, Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Esperance and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.

C. Hollister and K.R. Thiele, 17 April 2024

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Avon Wheatbelt, Carnarvon, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Murchison, Swan Coastal Plain.
IBRA Subregions
Eastern Goldfield, Eastern Murchison, Fitzgerald, Katanning, Merredin, Northern Jarrah Forest, Perth, Recherche, Western Mallee, Wooramel.
IMCRA Regions
Abrolhos Islands, Central West Coast, Leeuwin-Naturaliste.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Canning, Carnarvon, Cockburn, Dundas, Esperance, Greater Geraldton, Harvey, Kalamunda, Kondinin, Lake Grace, Melville, Merredin, Perth, Ravensthorpe, Rockingham, South Perth, Wandering, Wiluna, Woodanilling.