Medicago × variaMartyn Hybrid Alfalfa

Medicago × variaMartyn - Hybrid Alfalfa

Scientific Description:

Plants of Medicago sativa L. × Medicago falcata L. origin. Procumbent or ascending perennial. Habit and leaf shape as in parental species. Racemes 1−2 × as long as broad, 8−15-flowered. Flowers 7−10 mm, violet, pale mauve, greenish, yellow or creamy white. Calyx teeth subulate, 1−3/2 × as long as tube. Fruit curved into 1/2−3/2(−2) coils, 4−7 mm diam., inconspicuously reticulate-nerved, densely adpressed-pilose. Seeds 3−6, c. 2 mm, brown.

 

Flowering time: May−August.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, steppe (chalky banks, loamy hills, meadows), fallow fields, 250−2000 m.

 

Reference:

Heyn CC & Davis PH (1970). Medicago x varia Martyn, In: Davis PH (ed.) Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 3: 489.

Public Description:

Medicago x varia, known as “hybrid alfalfa”, is native to Türkiye, Europe, West Syria, Cyprus and the Caucasus. It is a hybrid plant between “purple medick (Medicago sativa L.)” and “yellow lucerne (Medicago falcata L.)” It is a perennial herb with violet, pale mauve, greenish, yellow or creamy white flowers. It blooms between May and August and is found in rocky slopes, chalky banks, loamy hills, meadows and fallow fields.

 

References:

Anonymous (2016). http:/www.tubives.com/index.php?sayfa=1&tax_id=3330 /, Accessed date: 12.02.2016.

Keskin M (2012). Medicago L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 473–477.