AusTraits

Medicago arabica

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Medicago arabica (L.) Huds.

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Medicago maculata Sibth. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Medicago maculata Willd. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Medicago polymorpha var. arabica L. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld (formerly naturalised), NSW (naturalised), LHI (naturalised), NI (doubtfully naturalised), ACT (naturalised), Vic (naturalised), Tas (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, SA eFlora, Vic Flora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: Cheal_2017 (5), Kubiak_2009 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (2), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (15), RBGV_2022 (4), RBGV_2023 (19), SAH_2022 (4), SAH_2023 (17), WAH_2022_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (5). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 35 traits from 85 records in 13 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response
flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 6 mm (5-7 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 5.33 mm (4-7 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 5.67 mm (4-7 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): legume (2); legume_indehiscent (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): brown (1); yellow (1) [sources: SAH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 19 mm (4-40 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 21.17 mm (5-45 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): obcordate (1); obovate (1); widely_obovate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1); toothed (1); toothed_dentate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): decumbent (1); erect (2); prostrate (3); spreading (1) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): long_persistent (1) [sources: Cheal_2017]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 3 mm (3-3 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • seed_width (numerical): 1.4 mm (1.4-1.4 mm) [sources: SAH_2023]
  • seed_shape (categorical): reniform (2) [sources: RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
RBGV_20231419VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_20231317S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
NHNSW_20231015N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Cheal_201755D. Cheal. Growth stages and tolerable fire intervals for Victoria's native vegetation data sets. Fire and adaptive management, report no. 84. Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment Melbourne, 2010.
Wright_200055I. J. Wright, H. T. Clifford, R. Kidson, M. L. Reed, B. L. Rice, and M. Westoby. “A survey of seed and seedling characters in 1744 Australian dicotyledon species: Cross-species trait correlations and correlated trait-shifts within evolutionary lineages”. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 69 (2000), pp. 521-547. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2000.tb01222.x.
NHNSW_202244N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
RBGV_202244VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_202244S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Kubiak_200933P. J. Kubiak. “Fire responses of bushland plants after the January 1994 wildfires in northern Sydney”. Cunninghamia 11.1 (2009), pp. 131-165.
NHNSW_2014_222Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.