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Taxon:  Medicago orbicularis (L.) Bartal.



Summary
Genus:
Medicago
Section:
Orbiculares
Family:
Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae)
Subfamily:
Faboideae
Tribe:
Trifolieae
Nomen number:
23636
Place of publication:
Cat. piante Siena 60. 1776
Verified:
10/28/1988 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
1776 (1754  active, 1535  available) in Australian Pastures Genebank.  (Map it)
Other conspecific taxa
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Basionym
Medicago polymorpha L. var. orbicularis L.

Heterotypic Synonym(s)
Medicago cuneata Woods
Medicago marginata Willd.
Medicago orbicularis (L.) Bartal. f. biancae Urb.
Medicago orbicularis (L.) Bartal. var. marginata (Willd.) Benth.
Medicago orbicularis (L.) Bartal. var. microcarpa Rouy
No images


Reference(s)
  1. Afonin, A. N., S. L. Greene, N. I. Dzyubenko, & A. N. Frolov, eds. Interactive agricultural ecological atlas of Russia and neighboring countries. Economic plants and their diseases, pests and weeds (on-line resource).
  2. 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
  3. Ali, S. I. & S. M. H. Jafri, eds. Flora of Libya. 1976-
  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. Eriksson, O. et al. Flora of Macaronesia: checklist of vascular plants, ed. 2. 1979
  8. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
  9. Greuter, W. et al., eds. Med-Checklist. 1984-
  10. Heyn, C. C. 1963. The annual species of Medicago. Scripta Hierosolymitana 12:135.
  11. Hnatiuk, R. J. Census of Australian vascular plants. Australian Flora and Fauna Series No. 11. 1990
  12. Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS). Australian plant common name database (on-line resource).
  13. International Seed Testing Association. A Multilingual Glossary of Common Plant-Names 1. Field crops, grasses and vegetables, ed. 2. 1982
  14. Isely, D. Native and naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the United States (exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii). 1998
  15. Iwatsuki, K. et al. Flora of Japan. 1993-
  16. Izquierdo Z., I. et al., eds. Lista de especies silvestres de Canarias: hongos, plantas y animales terrestres. 2004
  17. Jahandiez, E. & R. Maire. Catalogue des plantes du Maroc. 1931-1941
  18. Kartesz, J. T. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 1994
  19. Komarov, V. L. et al., eds. Flora SSSR. 1934-1964
  20. Kumar, S & P. V. Sane. Legumes of South Asia: a checklist. 2003
  21. Lesins, K. A. & I. Lesins. 1979. Genus Medicago (Leguminosae). A taxogenetic study. 1979 79.
  22. Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. Hortus third. 1976
  23. Lock, J. M. & K. Simpson. Legumes of West Asia: a checklist. 1991
  24. Lock, J. M. Legumes of Africa: a checklist. 1989
  25. Martin, W. P. 1948. Observations on the nodulation of leguminous plants of the Southwest. Albuquerque Regional Bull. Soil Conserv. Serv. U.S.D.A. 107:1-10.
  26. Migahid, A. M. Flora of Saudi Arabia, ed. 3. 1988-1990
  27. Mouterde, P. Nouvelle flore du Liban et de la Syrie. 1966-
  28. Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali, eds. Flora of [West] Pakistan. 1970-
  29. Pignatti, S. Flora d'Italia. 1982
  30. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
  31. Pottier-Alapetite, G. Flore de la Tunisie: Angiospermes-Dicotyledones. 1979-1981
  32. Quézel, P. & S. Santa. Nouvelle flore de l'Algerie. 1962-1963
  33. Rechinger, K. H., ed. Flora iranica. 1963-
  34. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994
  35. Small, E. & M. Jomphe. 1989. A synopsis of the genus Medicago (Leguminosae). Canad. J. Bot. 67:3273.
  36. Small, E. et al. 1981. The taxonomic value of floral characters in tribe Trigonelleae (Leguminosae), with special reference to Medicago. Canad. J. Bot. 59:1580.
  37. Small, E. 1981. A numerical analysis of major groupings in Medicago employing traditionally used characters. Canad. J. Bot. 59:1555.
  38. Smythies, B. E. Flora of Spain and the Balearic Islands: checklist of vascular plants. Englera 3:1-882. 1984-1986
  39. Täckholm, V. Students' flora of Egypt, ed. 2. 1974
  40. Thulin, M. Leguminosae of Ethiopia. Opera Bot. 68:1-223. 1983
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  43. Zohary, M. & N. Feinbrun-Dothan. Flora palaestina. 1966-
Common names
English
burless clover –
burless trefoil –
button medic –
button medick –
button trefoil –
button-clover –
flat snail-clover –
large-disc medic –
snail trefoil –
Arabic
nafal –
French
luzerne orbiculaire –
Italian
medico orbicolare –
Japanese Rōmaji
uzumaki-umagoyashi –
Spanish
mielga de caracolillo –
Swedish
hjullusern –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeAfricaMacaronesiaPortugalMadeira Islands 
1NativeAfricaMacaronesiaSpainCanary Islands 
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaEthiopia  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaAlgeria  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaEgypt  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaLibya  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaMorocco  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaTunisia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusArmenia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusAzerbaijan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusGeorgia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusRussian FederationDagestan 
1NativeAsia-TemperateCaucasusRussian Federation-CiscaucasiaCiscaucasia 
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaKazakhstan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaKyrgyzstan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaTajikistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaTurkmenistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateMiddle AsiaUzbekistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaAfghanistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaCyprus  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIran  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIraq  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIsrael  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaJordan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaLebanon  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaSyria  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaTurkey  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaJammu and Kashmir 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaPunjab 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentPakistan  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeUkraineKrym 
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeAlbania  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeBulgaria  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeFormer Yugoslavia  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeGreece  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeItaly  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeRomania  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeFrance  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropePortugal  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeSpain  
4NaturalizedAsia-TemperateArabian PeninsulaOman  
4NaturalizedAsia-TemperateArabian PeninsulaSaudi Arabia  
4NaturalizedAustralasiaAustraliaAustralia  
4NaturalizedEuropeMiddle EuropeHungary  
4NaturalizedNorthern America United States  
Native
Africa
  • MACARONESIA: Spain [Canary Islands], Portugal [Madeira Islands]
  • NORTHEAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Ethiopia
  • NORTHERN AFRICA: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
Asia-Temperate
  • CAUCASUS: Russian Federation-Ciscaucasia [Ciscaucasia], Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russian Federation [Dagestan]
  • MIDDLE ASIA: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
  • WESTERN ASIA: Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey
Asia-Tropical
  • INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: India [Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab], Pakistan
Europe
  • EAST EUROPE: Ukraine [Krym]
  • SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: Former Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania
  • SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE: Spain, France, Portugal
Naturalized
Asia-Temperate
  • ARABIAN PENINSULA: Oman, Saudi Arabia
Australasia
  • AUSTRALIA: Australia
Europe
  • MIDDLE EUROPE: Hungary
Northern America
  • REGION: United States
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=23636. Accessed 19 July 2025.


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