Hedysarum coronarium L.

Spice Fruit In the field Inflorescence

Family: LEGUMINOSAE

Genus: Hedysarum

Catalan common name: Clòver bord. Enclova. Enclòver.

Spanish common name: Sulla. Zulla.

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Castelló. Girona.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca.

General distribution (Phytogeography): West Mediterranean

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte.

Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Cultivated species. Cultivated specie and naturalizated.

Characteristics: This plant has been used as fodder, and has become naturalised from arable land. It is abundant in Menorca, and rarer in some parts of Mallorca (Alcúdia). When in flower it is easily recognisable because it forms a compact inflorescence of large, purple flowers. When it is abundant, the fields take on this colour in spring. The leaves are made up of larg,e ovate leaflets, with one terminal one. The pods have the typical morphology which characterises the genus: each seed has a strangulation where it breaks off; the external walls are covered in small hooks which make them stick easily to clothes.