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Taxon:  Medicago sativa L. subsp. falcata (L.) Arcang.



Summary
Genus:
Medicago
Section:
Medicago
Family:
Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae)
Subfamily:
Faboideae
Tribe:
Trifolieae
Nomen number:
104918
Place of publication:
Comp. fl. ital. 160. 1882
Verified:
09/13/1988 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
313 (261  active, 177  available) in Australian Pastures Genebank.  (Map it)
Other conspecific taxa
Medicago sativa L. (561 active accession[s])
Medicago sativa L. nothosubsp. tunetana Murb. (12 active accession[s])
Medicago sativa L. nothosubsp. varia (Martyn) Arcang. (370 active accession[s])
Medicago sativa L. subsp. caerulea (Less. ex Ledeb.) Schmalh. (158 active accession[s])
Medicago sativa L. subsp. falcata (L.) Arcang. var. falcata (L.) Doll (0 active accession[s])
Medicago sativa L. subsp. falcata (L.) Arcang. var. viscosa (Rchb.) Posp. (2 active accession[s])
Medicago sativa L. subsp. glomerata (Balb.) Rouy (30 active accession[s])
Medicago sativa L. subsp. sativa (1687 active accession[s])
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Basionym
Medicago falcata L.

Heterotypic Synonym(s)
Medicago borealis Grossh.
Medicago difalcata Sinskaya
Medicago falcata L. var. romanica (Prodan) O. Schwarz & Klink.
Medicago quasifalcata Sinskaya
Medicago romanica Prodan
Medicago tenderiensis Opperman ex Klokov
No images


Reference(s)
  1. Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin). 2009
  2. Alfalfa Crop Germplasm Committee. Report on the Status of Medicago Germplasm in the United States. 2000 21.
  3. Allen, O. N. & E. K. Allen. The Leguminosae. A source book of characteristics, uses, and nodulation. 1981
  4. Botanical Society of the British Isles. BSBI taxon database (on-line resource).
  5. Davis, P. H., ed. Flora of Turkey and the east Aegean islands. 1965-1988
  6. Duke, J. A. Handbook of legumes of world economic importance. 1981
  7. Encke, F. et al. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 13. Auflage. 1984
  8. Greuter, W. et al., eds. Med-Checklist. 1984-
  9. Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm.
  10. Gunn, C. R. et al. 1978. Classification of Medicago sativa L. using legume characters and flower colors. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1574:15.
  11. Havananda, T. et al. 2010. Relationships among diploid members of the Medicago sativa (Fabaceae) species complex based on chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Syst. Bot. 35:140-150.
  12. Hnatiuk, R. J. Census of Australian vascular plants. Australian Flora and Fauna Series No. 11. 1990
  13. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Flora del Conosur. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares. 2008
  14. Isely, D. 1983. Classification of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and relatives. Iowa State J. Res. 57:215.
  15. Isely, D. Native and naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the United States (exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii). 1998
  16. Ivanov, A. I. Alfalfa [Lyutserna]. In Lenin Acad. Agric. Sciences, D. D. Brezhnev, ed. 1980
  17. Kumar, S & P. V. Sane. Legumes of South Asia: a checklist. 2003
  18. Markle, G. M. et al., eds. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. 1998
  19. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
  20. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994
  21. Small, E. Alfalfa and relatives: evolution and classification of Medicago. 2011
  22. Townsend, C. C. & E. Guest. Flora of Iraq. 1966-
  23. Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. Flora europaea. 1964-1980
  24. Yakovlev, G. P. et al. Legumes of Northern Eurasia. 1996
  25. Webster's third new international dictionary. 1961
Common names
English
sickle alfalfa –
sickle medic –
sickle medick –
yellow alfalfa –
yellow lucerne –
yellow-flower alfalfa –
French
luzerne de Suède –
luzerne jaune –
German
Sichelklee –
Sichelluzerne –
Portuguese
luzerna-de-sequeiro –
Portuguese (Brazil)
alfafa-de-provença –
alfafa-falciforme –
Spanish
alfalfa amarilla –
alfalfa sueca –
Swedish
gul-lusern –
Transcribed Chinese
ye mu xu –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaAlgeria  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaEgypt  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaLibya  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaMorocco  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaTunisia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusArmenia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusAzerbaijan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusGeorgia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateChinaChina  
1NativeAsia-TemperateEastern AsiaKorea  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaKazakhstan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaKyrgyzstan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaTajikistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaTurkmenistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaUzbekistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMongoliaMongolia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaCyprus  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIran  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIraq  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaLebanon  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaSyria  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaTurkey  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaAssam 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaHaryana 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaHimachal Pradesh 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaJammu and Kashmir 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaPunjab 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaSikkim 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaUttar Pradesh 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentNepal  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentPakistan  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeBelarus  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeEstonia  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeLatvia  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeLithuania  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeMoldova  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeRussian Federation-European partEuropean part 
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeUkraine  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeAustria  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeBelgium  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeCzech Republic  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeGermany  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeHungary  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeNetherlands  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropePoland  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeSlovakia  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeSwitzerland  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeDenmark  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeIreland  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeNorway  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeSweden  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeUnited Kingdom  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeAlbania  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeBulgaria  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeGreece  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeItaly  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeMacedonia  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeRomania  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeSlovenia  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeFrance  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropePortugal  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeSpain  
4NaturalizedAfricaSouthern AfricaSouth Africa  
4NaturalizedAsia-TemperateRussian Far EastRussian Federation-Far EastFar East 
4NaturalizedAsia-TemperateSiberiaRussian Federation-Eastern SiberiaEastern Siberia 
4NaturalizedAsia-TemperateSiberiaRussian Federation-Western SiberiaWestern Siberia 
4NaturalizedAustralasiaAustraliaAustralia  
4NaturalizedNorthern America Canada  
4NaturalizedNorthern America United States  
4NaturalizedSouthern AmericaSouthern South AmericaArgentina  
Native
Africa
  • NORTHERN AFRICA: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
Asia-Temperate
  • CAUCASUS: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
  • CHINA: China
  • EASTERN ASIA: Korea
  • MIDDLE ASIA: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
  • MONGOLIA: Mongolia
  • WESTERN ASIA: Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey
Asia-Tropical
  • INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: India [Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh], Nepal, Pakistan
Europe
  • EAST EUROPE: Russian Federation-European part [European part], Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Ukraine
  • MIDDLE EUROPE: Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia
  • NORTHERN EUROPE: Denmark, United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Sweden
  • SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia
  • SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE: Spain, France, Portugal
Naturalized
Africa
  • SOUTHERN AFRICA: South Africa
Asia-Temperate
  • RUSSIAN FAR EAST: Russian Federation-Far East [Far East]
  • SIBERIA: Russian Federation-Western Siberia [Western Siberia], Russian Federation-Eastern Siberia [Eastern Siberia]
Australasia
  • AUSTRALIA: Australia
Northern America
  • REGION: Canada, United States
Southern America
  • SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA: Argentina
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Animal foodforage Duke, J. A. Handbook of legumes of world economic importance. 1981
Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2025. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://apg.pir.sa.gov.au/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=104918. Accessed 18 July 2025.


GRIN-Global project