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Taxon:  Medicago scutellata (L.) Mill.



Summary
Genus:
Medicago
Section:
Spirocarpos
Subsection:
Rotatae
Family:
Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae)
Subfamily:
Faboideae
Tribe:
Trifolieae
Nomen number:
23686
Place of publication:
Gard. dict. ed. 8: Medicago no. 2. 1768
Verified:
06/10/1987 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
465 (455  active, 405  available) in Australian Pastures Genebank.  (Map it)
Other conspecific taxa
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Basionym
Medicago polymorpha L. var. scutellata L.

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. Botanical Society of the British Isles. BSBI taxon database (on-line resource).
  4. Davis, P. H., ed. Flora of Turkey and the east Aegean islands. 1965-1988
  5. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
  6. Greuter, W. et al., eds. Med-Checklist. 1984-
  7. Hacker, J. B. A guide to herbaceous and shrub legumes of Queensland. 1990
  8. Heyn, C. C. 1963. The annual species of Medicago. Scripta Hierosolymitana 12:38.
  9. Hnatiuk, R. J. Census of Australian vascular plants. Australian Flora and Fauna Series No. 11. 1990
  10. Holm, L. et al. A geographical atlas of world weeds. 1979
  11. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Flora del Conosur. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares. 2008
  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. Jahandiez, E. & R. Maire. Catalogue des plantes du Maroc. 1931-1941
  15. Komarov, V. L. et al., eds. Flora SSSR. 1934-1964
  16. Laurent, É. 1891. Recherches sur les nodosités radicales des légumineuses. Ann. Inst. Pasteur 5:105-139.
  17. Lesins, K. A. & I. Lesins. 1979. Genus Medicago (Leguminosae). A taxogenetic study. 1979 152.
  18. Meikle, R. D. Flora of Cyprus. 1977-1985
  19. Pignatti, S. Flora d'Italia. 1982
  20. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
  21. Pottier-Alapetite, G. Flore de la Tunisie: Angiospermes-Dicotyledones. 1979-1981
  22. Quézel, P. & S. Santa. Nouvelle flore de l'Algerie. 1962-1963
  23. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994
  24. Small, E. & M. Jomphe. 1989. A synopsis of the genus Medicago (Leguminosae). Canad. J. Bot. 67:3271.
  25. Small, E. et al. 1981. The taxonomic value of floral characters in tribe Trigonelleae (Leguminosae), with special reference to Medicago. Canad. J. Bot. 59:1581.
  26. Small, E. 1981. A numerical analysis of major groupings in Medicago employing traditionally used characters. Canad. J. Bot. 59:1555.
  27. Smythies, B. E. Flora of Spain and the Balearic Islands: checklist of vascular plants. Englera 3:1-882. 1984-1986
  28. Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. Flora europaea. 1964-1980
  29. University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. UC SAREP on-line cover crop database (on-line resource).
  30. Yakovlev, G. P. et al. Legumes of Northern Eurasia. 1996
  31. Zuloaga, F. O. & O. Morrone, eds. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de la República Argentina. I. Pteridophyta, Gymnospermae y Angiospermae (Monocotyledonae), II. Dicotyledonae. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 60, 74. 1996, 1999
Common names
English
snail medic –
snail medick –
snail trefoil –
snail-clover –
German
Schneckenklee –
Italian
medica scutellata –
Portuguese
luzerna-escudelada –
Swedish
snäcklusern –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaAlgeria  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaMorocco  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaTunisia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaCyprus  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIsrael  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaLebanon  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaSyria  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaTurkey  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeUkraine  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeFormer Yugoslavia  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeGreece  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeItaly  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeFrance  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropePortugal  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeSpain  
2Cultivated     
3AdventiveSouthern AmericaSouthern South AmericaArgentinaBuenos Aires 
4NaturalizedAustralasiaAustraliaAustralia  
4NaturalizedEuropeMiddle EuropeAustria  
4NaturalizedSouthern AmericaSouthern South AmericaUruguay  
Native
Africa
  • NORTHERN AFRICA: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia
Asia-Temperate
  • WESTERN ASIA: Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey
Europe
  • EAST EUROPE: Ukraine
  • SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: Former Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy
  • SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE: Spain, France, Portugal
Cultivated ()
Adventive
Southern America
  • SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA: Argentina [Buenos Aires]
Naturalized
Australasia
  • AUSTRALIA: Australia
Europe
  • MIDDLE EUROPE: Austria
Southern America
  • SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA: Uruguay
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Animal foodforage Hacker, J. B. A guide to herbaceous and shrub legumes of Queensland. 1990
Environmentalsoil improver University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. UC SAREP on-line cover crop database (on-line resource).
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=23686. Accessed 19 July 2025.


GRIN-Global project