Medicago arborea is a flowering plant species in the pea and bean family, Fabaceae. Common names include moon trefoil, shrub medick, alfalfa arborea, and tree medick.

Description

The shrub is high and wide and is pale yellow in colour. Its stems are erect and terete while its stipules are triangular and long. Its petioles are long with obovate to obcordate leaflets.

Flowers are scattered in 6–10 racemes and are long with axillar peduncles which are . The corolla is of orange colour and is . The bracts are long while its pedicels are long. Its legume is coiled in 0.5 to 1.5 spirals which are wide and are pubescent at the center. The seeds are long.

M.arborea is sometimes misidentified as Cytisus, which it resembles.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are accepted.

• Medicago arborea subsp. arborea (synonyms Cytisus neapolitanus and Medicago arborescens ) – Spain, Balearic Islands, Italy, Sardinia, Sicily, Greece, Crete, East Aegean Islands, and Turkey

• Medicago arborea subsp. citrina (synonyms M. arborea var. citrina and Medicago citrina – eastern Spain and Balearic Islands

• Medicago arborea subsp. strasseri (synonym Medicago strasseri ) – Crete

Distribution and habitat

It is native to several Mediterranean Basin countries – Spain and the Balearic Islands, Italy including and Sardinia and Sicily, Greece including Crete and the East Aegean Islands, and Turkey. It primarily grows on rocky shores among shrubby vegetation.

Ecology

It forms a symbiotic relationship with the bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti, which is capable of nitrogen fixation.

Uses

It is the only member of the genus Medicago which is used as an ornamental.

References

External links

• International Legume Database & Information Services

• Medicago arborea L.

• Medicago arborea - L.