Medicago littoralis Rohde ex Loisel
Family: LEGUMINOSAE
Genus: Medicago
Catalan common name: Melgó litoral.
Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Castelló. Girona. Tarragona. València.
Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza. Formentera. Cabrera.
General distribution (Phytogeography): Mediterranean
IUCN Category: Least concern
Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Life-forms: Terophyte.
Habitats: Beaches and dunes, sandy soils. Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Rocky coastlines. Therophytic calicole fields. Coastal zones. Fields and road sides.
Characteristics: A small, annual herb, which branches out from the base and has its branches prostrate on the ground. Like all the Medicago it has trifoliate leaves. The flowers are yellow and are found on a leaf-stalk as long as or longer than the corresponding leaf. The fruit has a spiral shape with more or less erect spikelets. It is very similar to Medicago truncatula, we will recognise it because of its long, floral leaf-stalks, and because of the fruit with more or less erect spikes. It lives in moors, and also in coastal areas. It flowers from winter to the end of spring.