Medicago falcataL.

Sickle Medick

WFO wfo-0000213426 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Medicago falcata, photographed by voronokin1971
fig. a voronokin1971, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-13 / obs. 205737438
Medicago falcata, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. b Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 204833703
Medicago falcata, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. c Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203598669
Medicago falcata, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. d Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203240473
Medicago falcata, photographed by Juraj Ahel
fig. e Juraj Ahel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 164077507
Medicago falcata, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. f Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161506831
Medicago falcata, photographed by Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky)
fig. g Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158363418
Medicago falcata, photographed by Силаева Татьяна Борисовна
fig. h Силаева Татьяна Борисовна, CC0 1.0 / obs. 158466513

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 56 botanical countries

Regions where Medicago falcata is native: Afghanistan, China North-Central, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Lebanon-Syria, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Qinghai, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Assam, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AfghanistanChina North-CentralInner MongoliaIranKazakhstanKirgizstanLebanon-SyriaManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusQinghaiTadzhikistanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeUzbekistanXinjiangAssamEast HimalayaIndiaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine
Native distribution of Medicago falcata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Qinghai CHQ
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 1,007 in flower of 1,028 examined

Peak flowering in Oct. Each bar is the share of Medicago falcata observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 1,007 of 1,028 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 6 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,960 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -23.4 °C -10.9 °C -1.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.1 °C 23.6 °C 26.9 °C
Annual rainfall 372 mm 596 mm 905 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 33 mm 102 mm 159 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,960 research-grade observations of Medicago falcata that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 126 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Medica falcata (L.) Mill.
  • Medica sylvestris (Fr.) Bubani
  • Medicago angustifolia Chevall.
  • Medicago aurantiaca Godr.
  • Medicago aurautiaca Godr.
  • Medicago borealis Grossh.
  • Medicago borealis var. micrantha Grossh.
  • Medicago difalcata Sinskaya
  • Medicago difalcata subsp. kazachstanica Sinskaya
  • Medicago difalcata subsp. orientalcaucasica Sinskaya
  • Medicago erecta (Kotov) Kotov
  • Medicago falcata f. arenaria C.G.H.Thed.
  • Medicago falcata f. prostrata W.D.J.Koch
  • Medicago falcata prol. sylvestris (Fr.) Rouy
  • Medicago falcata subsp. adenocarpa Soják
  • Medicago falcata subsp. erecta Kotov
  • Medicago falcata subsp. glareosa Vassilcz.
  • Medicago falcata subsp. pinetorum Vassilcz.
  • Medicago falcata subsp. romanica (Prodan) O.Schwartz & Klink.
  • Medicago falcata subsp. tenderiensis (Klokov) Vassilcz.
  • Medicago falcata subsp. tyrnensis (Podp.) Soják
  • Medicago falcata subsp. urumovii Degen
  • Medicago falcata subvar. albiflora Babey ex Rouy
  • Medicago falcata subvar. viscosa (Rchb.) Rouy

and 102 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.