Snail clover

Snail clover
	Illustration of two Medicago species: below hop snail clover ( Medicago lupulina ) and above Arabian snail clover ( Medicago arabica )
Systematics
	Eurosiden I
Order :	Fabales (Fabales)
Family :	Legumes (Fabaceae)
Subfamily :	Butterflies (Faboideae)
Tribe :	Trifolieae
Genre :	Snail clover
Scientific name
	Medicago
	L.

Alfalfa ( Medicago ) is a genus in the subfamily of Schmetterlingsblütler (Faboideae) within the family of the Leguminosae (Fabaceae). This genus comprises about 87 species and has its center of diversity in the Mediterranean area .

description

Illustration of yellow alfalfa ( Medicago sativa subsp. Falcata ) (top left), Medicago sativa subsp. glomerata (right), Medicago suffruticosa (bottom left)

Legumes of various Medicago species

Vegetative characteristics

Most Medicago species are annual to perennial herbaceous plants , only a few are shrubs such as the shrub snail clover ( Medicago arborea ). They rarely reach heights of growth over 100 centimeters.

The alternate and spirally arranged leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blades are triple pinnate with longer stalked terminal leaflets and shorter stalked lateral leaflets. The edges of the leaflets are finely serrated. The two stipules are fused with the petiole, but free from each other.

Inflorescences and flowers

The flowers are seldom solitary, usually too many in axillary racemose inflorescences with or without bracts on long inflorescence shafts.

The short-stalked, small, zygomorphic flowers are five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five sepals are fused bell-shaped; whereby the calyx teeth are significantly shorter than the calyx tube. Of the five yellow or purple to blue, nailed petals , two have grown together to form a boat. The shuttle is shorter than the wings. The wings are not fused with the shuttle. Of the ten stamens , nine are fused. There is only one upper carpel with 4 to 25 ovules .

Fruits and seeds

The legumes are usually rolled up like a snail (hence the German name) and, depending on the species, can be thorned in different ways to different degrees. However, some species only have legumes bent into a sickle shape. The fruits contain 3 to 15 seeds. The relatively small seeds are kidney-shaped and smooth or rough.

Root nodules in Medicago italica with Sinorhizobium meliloti

ecology

Insect pollination ( entomophilia ) is required, or some species self-pollinate. Depending on the species, the fruit or the seed acts as a diaspore . Because the fruits of some species attach to the fur of animals, they are called "Velcro sleeves".

Like other legumes (legumes), the Medicago species have the ability to absorb and fix nitrogen from the air with the help of symbiotic nodule bacteria (in many species of the tribe Trifolieae this is the species Sinorhizobium meliloti (Dangeard 1926) De Lajudie et al.) .

Systematics

The generic name Medicago was first published by Carl von Linné . Type species is Medicago sativa L. Synonyms for Medicago L. are: Crimaea Vassilcz. , Kamiella Vassilcz. , Lupulina Noulet , Medica Mill. , Pseudomelissitus Ovcz. et al. , Radiata Medik. , Rhodusia Vassilcz. , Turukhania Vassilcz. The genus Medicago belongs to the tribe Trifolieae in the subfamily Faboideae within the family of the Fabaceae .

Section Buceras Subsection Buceras : Illustration by Medicago monspeliaca

Section Carstienses : Illustration of the karst snail clover ( Medicago carstiensis )

Section Dendrotelis : Bush snail clover ( Medicago arborea )

Section Medicago subsection Medicago : beach-alfalfa ( Medicago marina )

Section Medicago subsection Medicago : bastard alfalfa ( Medicago sativa . Nothosubsp varia )

Medicago section Suffruticosae subsection : Medicago suffruticosa

Section Orbiculares : Legume from the disk clover or plate-shaped clover ( Medicago orbicularis )

Section Spirocarpos Subsection Intertextae : Fruit of Medicago ciliaris

Section Spirocarpos Subsection Pachyspireae : Medicago littoralis ,
flowering plant with unripe fruits

Spirocarpos section Rotatae subsection : Shield snail clover ( Medicago scutellata )

Section Spiro Carpos subsection Spiro Carpos : Legumes of Medicago minima ( Medicago minima ), "Velcro sleeves"

The genus snail clover ( Medicago ) is divided into 14 sections, some of which are subdivided into several subsections, and according to Small (2011) contains 87 species:

Section Buceras (Ser.)
E. Small
: It contains four subsections: Many of the species classified here previously belonged to the genus Trigonella .
- Subsection Deflexae (Širj.)
  E. Small : It contains only one species:
  Medicago retrorsa (Boiss.) E. Small : The home is Afghanistan.
- Subsection Buceras : It contains 16 species:
  
  Medicago arenicola (Hub.-Mor.) E. Small : The home is Asia Minor .
  
  Medicago astroites (Fisch. & CAMey.) Trautv. : It occurs in the Middle East .
  
  Medicago carica (Hub.-Mor.) E. Small : The home is Asia Minor and the Aegean .
  
  Medicago crassipes (Boiss.) E. Small : It occurs in the Middle East.
  
  Fischer's snail clover ( Medicago fischeriana (Ser.) Trautv. ): It occurs in the Crimea and in Asia Minor.
  
  Medicago halophila (Boiss.) E. Small : Home is Asia Minor.
  
  Medicago heldreichii E. Small : Home is Asia Minor.
  
  Medicago medicaginoides (Retz.) E. Small : It occurs on the Balkan Peninsula , on the Crimea and in Asia Minor.
  
  Single -flowered snail clover ( Medicago monantha (CAMey.) Trautv. ): It occurs in the Middle East.
  
  Medicago monspeliaca (L.) Trautv. (Syn .: Trigonella monspeliaca L. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean area and in West and Central Asia.
  
  Medicago orthoceras (Kar. & Kir.) Trautv. : The home is Asia Minor.
  
  Medicago pamphylica (Hub.-Mor. & Širj.) E. Small : The home is Asia Minor.
  
  Medicago persica (Boiss.) E. Small : The homeland is Iran.
  
  Medicago phrygia (Boiss. & Balansa) E. Small : It occurs in the Middle East and in the Aegean.
  
  Multi-horned snail clover ( Medicago polyceratia (L.) Trautv. ): It is widespread in southwestern Europe and northwestern Africa.
  
  Medicago rigida (Boiss. & Balansa) E. Small : The home is Asia Minor.
- Isthmocarpae subsection : It contains two types:
  - Medicago isthmocarpa (Boiss. & Balansa) E. Small : Home is Asia Minor.

Section Carstienses Kozukharov : with the only kind:
Karst snail clover ( Medicago carstiensis Jacq. ): It occurs in Italy, in the former Yugoslavia, in Albania and Bulgaria.

Section Dendrotelis (Vassilcz.) Lassen : It contains three species:
- Shrub snail ( Medicago arborea L. ): It is widespread in the Mediterranean region.
- Medicago citrina (Font Quer) Greuter : It occurs in Spain and the Balearic Islands .
- Medicago strasseri Greuter, Matthäs & Risse : It only occurs in Crete.

Section Geocarpa E.Small (Syn .: Factorovskya Eig ): It contains only one type:
- Medicago hypogaea E. Small : It occurs in the Middle East, Egypt and Libya.

Heynianae Greuter section : It contains only one species:
- Medicago heyniana Greuter : It occurs on the south- west Turkish Marmaris peninsula and on the Greek Aegean islands of Rhodes , Karpathos , Tilos and Amorgos .

Section Hymenocarpos Ser. in DC. : It contains only one type:
Moon snail clover ( Medicago radiata L. ): It occurs in the Middle East.

Section Lanigerae Winkl. & B.Fedtsch. : It contains only one type:
- Medicago lanigera Winkl. & B.Fedtsch. : The home is Central Asia.

Section Lunatae (Boiss.)
E. Small
: It contains five species:
- Medicago biflora (Griseb.) E. Small : Home is Asia Minor.
- Medicago brachycarpa fish. ex M.Bieb. : It occurs in the Middle East.
- Medicago edgeworthii Širj. (Syn .: Medicago pubescens (Edgew. Ex Baker) Širj. )
- Medicago huberi E. Small : Home is Asia Minor.
- Medicago rostrata (Boiss. & Balansa) E. Small : The home is Asia Minor.

Medicago section : It contains two subsections:

Medicago subsection : It contains eleven species:
- Medicago cancellata M.Bieb. : It occurs in Russia.
- Medicago cretacea M.Bieb. : It occurs in Ukraine and Russia.
- Medicago daghestanica Rupr. ex Boiss. : It occurs in Transcaucasia.
- Beach snail ( Medicago marina L. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean area.
- Medicago papillosa Boiss. : The home is Asia Minor.
- Medicago pironae Vis. : It occurs in Italy and in the former Yugoslavia .
- Decumbent clover or deciduous alfalfa ( Medicago prostrata Jacq. ): It occurs in Italy and on the Balkan Peninsula.
- Medicago rhodopea Velen. : It occurs only in Bulgaria.
- Medicago rupestris M.Bieb. : It only occurs in the Crimea .
- Common lucerne or real alfalfa, alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L. ) (Often considered as a species complex or with some subspecies. For example sickle snail , yellow alfalfa ( Medicago sativa subsp. Falcata L. ), bastard snail , bastard alfalfa ( Medicago sativa nothosubsp. varia (Martyn) Arcang. ))
- Medicago saxatilis M.Bieb. : It only occurs in the Crimea.
Subsection Suffruticosae (Vassilcz.) E. Small : It contains two types:
- Pourrets snail clover ( Medicago hybrida (Pourr.) Trautv. ): It occurs only in France.
- Medicago suffruticosa Ramond ex DC. : It occurs in Spain, France and Morocco.

Orbiculares Urb section . : It contains only one type:

Disk clover or plate-shaped clover ( Medicago orbicularis (L.) Bartal. , Syn .: Medicago cuneata Woods , Medicago marginata Willd. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Section Oval E. Small : It contains only one species:

Medicago ovalis (Boiss.) Urb. : It occurs in Spain, Algeria and Morocco.

Section Pectinatae Boiss. : It contains only one type:

Medicago plicata (Boiss.) Širj. : The home is Asia Minor.

Section Platycarpae E. Small : It contains eight species, including:

Medicago archiducis-nicolai Širj. : It thrives on alpine slopes, in valleys and on grasslands at altitudes rarely between 2500 and mostly between 3000 and 4000 meters in the Chinese provinces of Gansu , Ningxia , Qinghai , Shaanxi , Sichuan and in northeastern Tibet .
Medicago platycarpos (L.) Trautv. : It occurs in Asia and in European Russia.
Medicago popovii (Korovin) Širj. : The homeland is Uzbekistan. Some authors put the species as Trigonella popovii Korovin to Trigonella .
Medicago ruthenica (L.) Trautv. : It occurs in Asia.

Section Spirocarpos Ser. : It contains five subsections:

Subsection Intertextae (Urb.) Heyn : It contains four types:

Fringed snail clover ( Medicago ciliaris (L.) All. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean region.

Medicago granadensis Willd. (Syn .: Medicago galilaea Boiss. ): It occurs in the Middle East and Egypt.

Hedgehog shamrock ( Medicago intertexta (L.) Mill. , Syn .: Medicago echinus DC. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Medicago muricoleptis Tineo (Syn .: Medicago decandollei Tineo ex Guss. ): It occurs in Italy, Sicily and Greece.

Subsection Lupularia (Ser. In DC) E. Small : It contains two types:

Hop clover or hop snail clover ( Medicago lupulina L. )

Medicago secundiflora Durieu : It occurs in southwest Europe and northwest Africa.

Subsection Pachyspireae (Urb.) Heyn : It contains 13 species:

Medicago constricta Durieu (Syn .: Medicago globosa C. Presl ): It occurs in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean region.

Medicago doliata Carmign. (Syn .: Medicago aculeata Willd. , Medicago globulosa Desv. , Medicago muricata Benth. , Medicago oliviformis Guss. , Medicago turbinata auct.): It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Medicago italica (Mill.) Fiori (Syn .: Medica italica Mill. , Medicago corrugata Durieu , Medicago helix Willd. , Medicago obscura Retz. , Medicago striata T. Bastard , Medicago tornata (L.) Mill. ): It comes in the Mediterranean area in front.

Medicago littoralis Rohde ex Loisel. : It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Barbed alfalfa or Kurzstacheliger alfalfa ( Medicago murex Willd. , Syn .: Medicago lesinsiii E.Small ): It occurs in the Mediterranean region.

Stiff snail clover or velvet snail clover ( Medicago rigidula (L.) All. , Syn .: Medicago agrestis Ten. , Medicago cinerascens Jord. , Medicago gerardii Waldst. & Kit. Ex Willd. , Medicago morisiana Jord. , Medicago muricata (L. ) All. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Medicago rigiduloides E. Small : The home is Iraq.

Medicago sinskiae Uljanova : This little-known species comes from the Kopet Dagh in Iran and Turkmenistan.

Medicago soleirolii Duby : It occurs in Tunisia and Algeria and adventively also in the northern Mediterranean region.

Medicago sphaerocarpos Bertol. (Syn .: Medicago murex auct. Non Willd. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Medicago syriaca E. Small : The home is Syria.

Trimmed snail clover ( Medicago truncatula Gaertn. , Syn .: Medicago tribuloides Desr. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Medicago turbinata (L.) All. (Syn .: Medicago tuberculata (Retz.) Willd. ): The home is southern Europe, North Africa and West Asia.

Subsection Rotatae (Urb.) Heyn : It contains six species:

Medicago bonarotiana Arcang. : The home is the eastern Mediterranean region. Medicago blancheana Boiss. is the hybrid Medicago bonarotiana × M. rotata .

Medicago noeana Boiss. : The home is Asia Minor.

Medicago rotata Boiss. : It occurs in the Middle East.

Ribbed snail ( Medicago rugosa Desr. , Syn .: Medicago elegans Jacq. Ex Willd. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean region.

Shield snail clover ( Medicago scutellata (L.) Mill. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean region.

Medicago shepardii Post ex Boiss. : The home is Asia Minor.

Subsection Spirocarpos (Syn: Medicago subsect. Leptospireae (Urb.) Heyn ): It contains ten species:

Arabian snail clover or spotted snail clover ( Medicago arabica (L.) Hudson , Syn .: Medicago cordata Desr. , Medicago maculata Sibth. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean region.

Medicago coronata (L.) Bartal. : It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Discus snail clover ( Medicago disciformis DC. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean region.

Lobed snail clover ( Medicago laciniata (L.) Mill. , Syn .: Medicago aschersoniana Urb. ): It occurs in the eastern Mediterranean region.

Medicago laxispira Heyn : The home is Iraq.

Dwarf snail clover ( Medicago minima (L.) Bartal. , Syn .: Medicago meyeri Gruner , Medicago sessilis Peyron ex Post ): It occurs in Central Europe and the Mediterranean region.

Coarse snail clover ( Medicago polymorpha L. , Syn .: Medicago apiculata Willd. , Medicago denticulata Willd. , Medicago hispida Gaertn. , Medicago nigra (L.) Krock. , Medicago reticulata Benth. , Medicago sardoa Moris , Medicago lappacea Desr. , Medicago terebellum Willd. ): It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Medicago praecox DC. : It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

Medicago sauvagei Nègre : It occurs only in Morocco.

Medicago tenoreana Ser. : It occurs in the Mediterranean area.

swell

Leslie Watson: Medicago. In: Western Australian Herbarium (Ed.): FloraBase. The Western Australian Flora. Department of Environment and Conservation 2008, online. (Section description)
Syed Irtifaq Ali: Flora of West Pakistan 100: Papilionaceae. Stewart Herbarium, Rawalpindi 1977, Medicago , p. 301.
Zhi Wei, Michael A. Vincent: Medicago . In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Eds.): Flora of China . Volume 10: Fabaceae . Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 2010, ISBN 978-1-930723-91-7 , pp. 553 (English). , PDF file (section description and systematics).
Enter the taxon in the search mask at International Legume Database & Information Service = ILDIS.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Ernest Small: Alfalfa and Relatives. Evolution and Classification of Medicago. NRC Research Press, Ottawa 2011, ISBN 978-0-660-19979-5 .
↑ Jens Buhrmester: Genome-wide analyzes of gene clusters for ABC transport-mediated iron uptake in Sinorhizobium meliloti strain Rm1021. Dissertation at Bielefeld University, 2004, PDF file.
↑ Medicago sativa subsp. falcata in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Enter the generic name in the search mask at ILDIS = International Legume Database & Information Service .
↑ Marcela Rosato, Mercedes Castro, Josep A. Rosselló: Relationships of the Woody Medicago Species (Section Dendrotelis) Assessed by Molecular Cytogenetic Analyzes. In: Annals of Botany. Volume 102, No. 1, 2008, pp. 15-22, doi: 10.1093 / aob / mcn055 .
↑ tea Havananda, E. Charles Brummer, Iván J. Maureira Butler, Jeff J. Doyle: Relationships Among diploid Members of the Medicago sativa (Fabaceae) Species Complex Based on chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA sequences. In: Systematic Botany. Volume 35, No. 1, 2010, pp. 140-150, doi: 10.1600 / 036364410X493340 .

Web links

Commons : Schneckenklee - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Map with all linked sites: OSM | WikiMap

[Small2011-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Ernest Small: Alfalfa and Relatives. Evolution and Classification of Medicago. NRC Research Press, Ottawa 2011, ISBN 978-0-660-19979-5 .

[Buhrmester2004-2] Jens Buhrmester: Genome-wide analyzes of gene clusters for ABC transport-mediated iron uptake in Sinorhizobium meliloti strain Rm1021. Dissertation at Bielefeld University, 2004, PDF file.

[GRIN-3] Medicago sativa subsp. falcata in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.

[ILDIS-4] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Enter the generic name in the search mask at ILDIS = International Legume Database & Information Service .

[Rosato+al-5] Marcela Rosato, Mercedes Castro, Josep A. Rosselló: Relationships of the Woody Medicago Species (Section Dendrotelis) Assessed by Molecular Cytogenetic Analyzes. In: Annals of Botany. Volume 102, No. 1, 2008, pp. 15-22, doi: 10.1093 / aob / mcn055 .

[Havananda2010-6] tea Havananda, E. Charles Brummer, Iván J. Maureira Butler, Jeff J. Doyle: Relationships Among diploid Members of the Medicago sativa (Fabaceae) Species Complex Based on chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA sequences. In: Systematic Botany. Volume 35, No. 1, 2010, pp. 140-150, doi: 10.1600 / 036364410X493340 .