Medicago truncatula

Barrel medick, barrel clover, Barrel Clover

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Barrel medick is a naturalized annual found in southern Coastal Ranges and Peninsular Ranges in disturbed and agricultural areas at elevations below 800 meters. Flowering from March to April, this plant produces small yellow flowers in clusters of 1 to 3 blossoms. Growing with prostrate to ascending stems 10 to 80 centimeters long that are sparsely hairy, it has a delicate, spreading habit. Its leaves have three leaflets, each 10 to 25 millimeters long, obovate in shape with a distinctive dark central spot and toothed edges near the tip. The fruit is a distinctive tight spiral 5 to 8 millimeters long, coiled in 3 to 6 turns and lightly covered with small straight or curved prickles.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed and agricultural areas

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: < 800 m

Bioregions: SCoRO, PR

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