Medicago polymorpha

California burclover, California Burclover

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

California burclover is a naturalized annual found in the California Floristic Province in chaparral, oak woodland, streambanks, roadsides, and disturbed areas at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces small yellow flowers in compact clusters of 2 to 6 blooms. Growing with prostrate or mat-forming stems up to 50 centimeters long, it spreads across the ground in dense patches. Its leaves have three wedge-shaped to heart-shaped leaflets typically 10 to 20 millimeters long, with deeply cut stipules that are nearly as wide as the leaf. The distinctive fruit forms a loose spiral with 2 to 6 turns, covered in small prickles and ranging from gray to black in color.

Habitat: Common. Chaparral, oak woodland, streambanks, roadsides, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: CA-FP

California counties: Kern, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside, Orange, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Bernardino, Tulare, Fresno, Colusa, Glenn, Santa Clara, Sutter, San Mateo, Placer, Lake, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Nevada, Butte, Mendocino, Alameda, Marin, Humboldt, Napa, Sonoma, Yolo, Shasta, Santa Cruz, El Dorado, Amador, San Joaquin, Calaveras, Sacramento, Solano, Stanislaus, Del Norte, Mariposa, Tehama, Merced, Yuba, Tuolumne, Trinity

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.