BLACK MEDICK
Medicago lupulina
Pea Family [Fabaceae] 
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Pea Family [Fabaceae]
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status
flower
inner
morph
petals
stem
_2005_05_25_Brinnington_ReddishVale_TameValley_GuideBridge_021p6.jpg)
| 25th May 2005, Reddish Vale, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
| Smothering the path in short grassland. |
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| 12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| A rollick of Black Medick colonising lead-contaminated soils. |
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| 21st May 2007, Hazelhurst Aqueduct, Caldon Canal, Staffordshire. | Photo: © RWD |
| The small flower heads consist of many twin-petalled florets. The leaves in three, trefoil. |
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| 27th June 2009, Blackleach resr, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
| The fine leaf teeth become coarser towards the end of the leaf which ends in a minute point. |
_2009_06_12_GlenriddingHut_BBQ_562p7.jpg)
| 12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| The trefoil leaves have minute teeth and a delineating minutely pointed tooth at the end in a slight depression. |
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| 16th July 2009, Blackleach Nature Reserve, Walkden, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
| The flowers in the head number between 10 to 50. Each is separated a hairy green and joinedsepals. The leaves and stems too have hairs. |
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| 16th July 2009, Blackleach Nature Reserve, Walkden, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
| The typical pea-type flowers in the head separated by hairy sepals. |
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| 22nd June 2007. | Photo: © RWD |
| From the spent flower on the left where the hairy sepals can be seen a mass of coiled pods will form. |
| 8th Aug 2015, brick coastline, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| The tips of the leaves have a tooth in a slight depression. |
_2009_06_12_GlenriddingHut_BBQ_560p8.jpg)
| 12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| A flower head with fewer florets is able to spread the keel and standard out. |
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| 6th June 2015, Aughton, nr Ormskirk, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| The globular mass of flowers is less than a centimetre across. |
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| 6th June 2015, Aughton, nr Ormskirk, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| A clearer view of the large (in comparison) banner, which wraps around the much smaller wings with keels between them |
_2009_06_27_BlackleachResr_Ringley_canal_Bury_102p8.jpg)
| 27th June 2009, Blackleach resr, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
| Latent curled pods are starting to form. |
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| 16th July 2009, Blackleach Nature Reserve, Walkden, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
| The coiled mass of un-ripe pods. |
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| 6th June 2015, Aughton, nr Ormskirk, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| The hairy and ridged pods extrude themselves from the sepal tube, curl around and expand. |
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| 16th July 2009, Blackleach Nature Reserve, Walkden, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
| When ripe the pods become blackened. There is a ribbed netted pattern on the surface. |
_2015_06_06_Aughton_circ_(nrOrmskirk)_LBS_124p44.jpg)
| 6th June 2015, Aughton, nr Ormskirk, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| The trefoil leaves showing minute teeth and stipule at the tip. Only the central leaflet is stalked. The longer stems are more often square. |
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| 9th June 2015, Lancaster Canal, Bolton-le-Sands, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
| The leaf triplets. The centre one has a longer petiole (stem). All have a pointed tooth but which is NOT a mucronate tip (as some botanical books say). It is not fine enough to be a mucronate tip, it is actually a tooth in a slight depression at the end of the leaf. Leaves variably hairy. |
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Easily confused with : other Hop Trefoils. The distinguishing feature from those is the naked and black pods, plus the isolated tooth at the tip of the leaves which nestles in a slight depression. The tip is NOT a mucronate!
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 Medicago
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lupulina
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⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Fabaceae
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 Medicago (Medicks) |
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Pea Family [Fabaceae]
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BSBI maps