AusTraits

Medicago sativa

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Medicago sativa L.

Synonyms: 7 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Medicago caerulea Less. ex Ledeb. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Medicago falcata L. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Medicago sativa L. f. sativa (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Medicago sativa L. subsp. sativa (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Medicago sativa L. var. sativa (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Medicago sativa subsp. caerulea (Less. ex Ledeb.) Schmalh. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Medicago sativa subsp. falcata (L.) Arcang. (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), NT (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised), NI (naturalised), ACT (naturalised), Vic (naturalised), Tas (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Cheal_2017 (2), NHNSW_2014_2 (2), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (15), NTH_2023 (1), RBGV_2022 (4), RBGV_2023 (19), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (16), Stephens_2023 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (1), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (5), eFLOWER_2021 (20). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 47 traits from 100 records in 16 datasets.

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

flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 4 mm (1.5-6.5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 6.25 mm (3-9 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 6.25 mm (3-9 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): legume (3); legume_indehiscent (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 16.83 mm (5-30 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 8.17 mm (3-15 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): lanceolate (1); narrowly_obovate (1); oblong (1); obovate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): 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): perennial (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 (2); erect (3); sprawling (1) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (1) [sources: Stephens_2023]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 2.17 mm (1.2-2.5 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • seed_width (numerical): 1.25 mm (1-1.5 mm) [sources: SAH_2023]
  • seed_shape (categorical): reniform (2) [sources: RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 0.6 m (0.6-0.6 m) [sources: WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
eFLOWER_20211620J. Schönenberger, M. Balthazar, A. L. Martinez, B. Albert, C. Prieu, S. Magallon, and H. Sauquet. “Phylogenetic analysis of fossil flowers using an angiosperm-wide data set: proof-of-concept and challenges ahead”. American Journal of Botany 107.10 (2020), pp. 1433-1448. doi: 10.1002/ajb2.1538.
RBGV_20231419VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_20231116S. 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/.
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/.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
SAH_202233S. 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/.
Cheal_201722D. 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.
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.
NTH_202311D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Stephens_202311R. E. Stephens, R. V. Gallagher, L. Dun, W. Cornwell, and H. Sauquet. “Insect pollination for most of angiosperm evolutionary history”. New Phytologist 240.2 (2023), pp. 880-891. ISSN: 1469-8137. doi: 10.1111/nph.18993.
WAH_2023_211Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.