Pea Family [Fabaceae] |
status
flower
inner
morph
petals
stem
25th May 2005, Reddish Vale, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
Smothering the path in short grassland. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
A rollick of Black Medick colonising lead-contaminated soils. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
16th July 2009, Blackleach Nature Reserve, Walkden, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
The typical pea-type flowers in the head separated by hairy sepals. |
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. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
A flower head with fewer florets is able to spread the keel and standard out. |
6th June 2015, Aughton, nr Ormskirk, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The globular mass of flowers is less than a centimetre across. |
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 |
27th June 2009, Blackleach resr, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
Latent curled pods are starting to form. |
16th July 2009, Blackleach Nature Reserve, Walkden, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
The coiled mass of un-ripe pods. |
6th June 2015, Aughton, nr Ormskirk, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The hairy and ridged pods extrude themselves from the sepal tube, curl around and expand. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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!
|
Medicago | lupulina | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Fabaceae |
Medicago (Medicks) |
Pea Family [Fabaceae] |