Medicago praecox

Mediterranean medick

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Mediterranean medick is a naturalized annual found in northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, San Francisco Bay Area, and southern California coastal areas in creek beds, oak woodland, and disturbed areas at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces small yellow flowers that quickly fade. Growing with decumbent stems 10 to 30 centimeters long and generally covered in stiff hairs, it has a low-spreading habit. Its leaves have three leaflets, each wedge-shaped or obovate, typically 3 to 10 millimeters long with distinctively cut lanceolate stipules. The distinctive fruit forms a loose spiral coiled three to five times, with slender hooked prickles that give the mature plant a unique textured appearance.

Habitat: Uncommon. Creek beds, oak woodland, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: NCoRI, CaRF, SN, SnFrB, SCo

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