Fabaceae FAMILY

Medicago lupulina

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

1/5

Safety & Hazards

The seed is said to contain trypsin inhibitors[ 218 Title Medicinal Plants of China Publication Author Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Publisher Reference Publications, Inc. Year 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4 Description Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject. ]. These can interfere with certain enzymes that help in the digestion of proteins, but are normally destroyed if the seed is sprouted first.

Botanical Description

Medicago lupulina is an annual to short-lived perennial plant with prostrate, decumbent or ascending, much-branched stems growing from a taproot; it can grow 15 - 60cm tall[ 266 Title Flora of China Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. Year 1994 ISBN Description An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available. , 1145 Title AgroAtlas Publication Author Website http://www.agroatlas.ru/en/index.html Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line database of economic plants of Russia and the surrounding countries that formed the USSR, giving botanical descriptions, distribution, habitats and uses. It also gives comprehensive information on climate, soil, pests, diseases etc ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and a medicine. It is sometimes grown as a green manure. Medicago lupulina has been introduced by human acivity to many parts of the world, from the temperate to the tropical zones. It has often become established and is treated as an invasive weed in countries such as New Zealand and several Pacific Islands[ 305 Title Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk Publication Author Website http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands. ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate

Native RangeEurasia - Norway to Spain, east through the Caucasus and Turkey to China and the Himalayas; N. Africa - Macaronesia, Morocco to Egypt, Levant, Arabia

HabitatGrassy places and roadsides[ 17 Title Flora of the British Isles. Publication Author Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. Publisher Cambridge University Press Year 1962 ISBN - Description A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures. ], often occurring as a garden weed on both acid and calcareous soils[ 1 Title RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Publication Author F. Chittendon. Publisher Oxford University Press Year 1951 ISBN - Description Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]). ]. Stream banks, roadsides, waste fields, woodland margins[ 266 Title Flora of China Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. Year 1994 ISBN Description An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available. ].