Skip to content


Taxon:  Medicago sativa L. nothosubsp. varia (Martyn) Arcang.



Summary
Genus:
Medicago
Section:
Medicago
Family:
Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae)
Subfamily:
Faboideae
Tribe:
Trifolieae
Nomen number:
104919
Place of publication:
Comp. fl. ital. 160. 1882
Comment:
[used for both diploid and tetraploid hybrids arising from M. sativa subsp. sativa × M. sativa subsp. falcata]
Verified:
06/04/1987 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
414 (370  active, 287  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. subsp. caerulea (Less. ex Ledeb.) Schmalh. (158 active accession[s])
Medicago sativa L. subsp. falcata (L.) Arcang. (261 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 ×varia Martyn

Homotypic Synonym(s)
Medicago sativa L. var. varia (Martyn) Urb.

Heterotypic Synonym(s)
No images


Reference(s)
  1. Alfalfa Crop Germplasm Committee. Report on the Status of Medicago Germplasm in the United States. 2000 21.
  2. Armstrong, J. M. & D. R. Gibson. 1941. Inheritance of certain characters in the hybrid of Medicago media and M. glutinosa. Sci. Agric. (Ottawa) 22:1-10.
  3. Euro+Med Editorial Committee. Euro+Med Plantbase: the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity (on-line resource).
  4. Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm.
  5. Gunn, C. R. et al. 1978. Classification of Medicago sativa L. using legume characters and flower colors. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1574:12.
  6. Isely, D. 1983. Classification of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and relatives. Iowa State J. Res. 57:217.
  7. Ivanov, A. I. Alfalfa [Lyutserna]. In Lenin Acad. Agric. Sciences, D. D. Brezhnev, ed. 1980
  8. Markle, G. M. et al., eds. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. 1998
  9. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
  10. Rechinger, K. H., ed. Flora iranica. 1963-
  11. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994
  12. Small, E. 1985. Morphological differentiation in Medicago sativa s.l. in relation to ploidy. Canad. J. Bot. 63:1750.
  13. Small, E. 2012. Review of Fabaceae Trifolieae data for World Economic Plants, ed. 2. pers. comm.
  14. Sparrow, S. D., Jr. 1986. Effects of inoculation on nodulation, growth and nitrogen accumulation by seedling-year alfalfa, Medicago media Persoon, in three subarctic soils. Crop Res. (Edinburgh) 25(2):133-142.
  15. Yakovlev, G. P. et al. Legumes of Northern Eurasia. 1996
Common names
English
bastard medic –
sand lucerne –
variegated alfalfa –
variegated lucerne –
French
luzerne bigarrée –
luzerne intermédiaire –
German
Bastardluzerne –
Sandluzerne –
Portuguese (Brazil)
luzerna-bastarda –
Spanish
alfalfa de las arenas –
alfalfa híbrida –
Transcribed Chinese
za jiao mu xu –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusArmenia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusAzerbaijan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusGeorgia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusRussian FederationDagestan 
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusRussian Federation-CiscaucasiaCiscaucasia 
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaCyprus  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIran  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaSyria  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaTurkey  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeAustria  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeBelgium  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeSwitzerland  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeUnited Kingdom  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeItaly  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeSpain  
4NaturalizedAfricaSouthern AfricaSouth Africa  
4NaturalizedAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaKazakhstan  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaHimachal Pradesh 
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaJammu and Kashmir 
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentNepal  
4NaturalizedAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentPakistan  
4NaturalizedAustralasiaNew ZealandNew Zealand  
4NaturalizedEuropeEast EuropeBelarus  
4NaturalizedEuropeEast EuropeEstonia  
4NaturalizedEuropeEast EuropeRussian Federation-European partEuropean part 
4NaturalizedEuropeEast EuropeUkraine  
6Other     
Native
Asia-Temperate
  • CAUCASUS: Russian Federation-Ciscaucasia [Ciscaucasia], Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russian Federation [Dagestan]
  • WESTERN ASIA: Cyprus, Iran, Syria, Turkey
Europe
  • MIDDLE EUROPE: Austria, Belgium, Switzerland
  • NORTHERN EUROPE: United Kingdom
  • SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: Italy
  • SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE: Spain
Naturalized
Africa
  • SOUTHERN AFRICA: South Africa
Asia-Temperate
  • MIDDLE ASIA: Kazakhstan
Asia-Tropical
  • INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: India [Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir], Nepal, Pakistan
Australasia
  • NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand
Europe
  • EAST EUROPE: Russian Federation-European part [European part], Belarus, Estonia, Ukraine
Other ()
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Animal foodforage Markle, G. M. et al., eds. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. 1998
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=104919. Accessed 19 July 2025.


GRIN-Global project