How to Manage Pests

Identification: Weed Photo Gallery

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Black medic

Scientific name: Medicago lupulina (Pea or Bean Family: Fabaceae)

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DESCRIPTION:

Black medic, a member of the clover family, is a low-growing broadleaf annual that sometimes behaves as a perennial behaves as a perennial. Cotyledons (seed leaves) are oblong and smooth. The first leaf is oval and broader than it is long. Subsequent leaves are fully subdivided consisting of three egg-shaped leaflets with toothed-margins and resemble leaves of mature plants. Stems are hairy and branch at the base; branches are prostrate and spreading. Flowers are small and yellow and are arranged in short, spherical heads.

Broadleaf ID illustration.

Text modified from Elmore, C.L., W.B. McHenry, and D.W. Cudney. 1989. Weed control in large turf areas. Chapter 3 in Turfgrass Pests. UC ANR Publication 4053.

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