Tattered medick

Medicago laciniata, the tattered medick or cut-leaved medick, is a small annual herb in the Fabaceae family, native to dry regions around the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East and northern Africa, and now naturalised in parts of Australia and the southern United States. It is a low-growing, often sprawling or prostrate plant 10 to 40 cm tall with slender, branched stems that may be sparsely hairy. The leaves are alternate and trifoliate; each leaflet is wedge-shaped to oblanceolate, 5 to 15 mm long, and is conspicuously toothed or pinnately cut along the upper margin, giving the species its tattered appearance. Small bright yellow pea-flowers, about 4 to 6 mm long, are borne singly or in clusters of two or three in the leaf axils, mostly in spring. The fruit is a small, tightly coiled spiny pod with several turns and short, hooked prickles that aid attachment to passing animals. It is a common component of dry pastures, fallow fields and roadsides.