Medicago monspeliaca(L.) Trautv.

hairy medick

WFO wfo-0000186593 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Medicago monspeliaca, photographed by Mehdi Chetibi
fig. a Mehdi Chetibi, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-01 / obs. 194292808
Medicago monspeliaca, photographed by Tim Johnson
fig. b Tim Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188699650
Medicago monspeliaca, photographed by Tatiana Gavrilova
fig. c Tatiana Gavrilova, CC0 1.0 / obs. 142328577
Medicago monspeliaca, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. d Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 116976252
Medicago monspeliaca, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. e Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115648645
Medicago monspeliaca, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. f Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115651409
Medicago monspeliaca, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. g Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 113985230
Medicago monspeliaca, photographed by Emanuele Santarelli
fig. h Emanuele Santarelli, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 63930546

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 41 botanical countries

Regions where Medicago monspeliaca is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Sinai, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaEgyptLibyaMoroccoTunisiaCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineSinaiTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanPakistanAlbaniaAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaFranceGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Canary Is.BalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Medicago monspeliaca, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
France FRA
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Sinai SIN
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Egypt EGY
Libya LBY
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
Pakistan PAK ASIA-TROPICAL

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 530 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -4.2 °C 0.6 °C 10.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 23.9 °C 26.9 °C 33.1 °C
Annual rainfall 312 mm 668 mm 997 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 4 mm 97 mm 173 mm

It is found where winters bring light frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 530 research-grade observations of Medicago monspeliaca 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.

Also published as 22 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.

  • Buceras elliptica Moench
  • Buceras monspeliaca (L.) All.
  • Falcatula monspeliaca (L.) Fourr.
  • Telis monspeliaca (L.) Kuntze
  • Trigonella divaricata Clairv.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca L.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca f. eigii Širj.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca f. incisa Širj.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca f. leiocarpa (W.D.J.Koch) Širj.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca f. macrocarpa (Bornm.) Širj.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca f. moabitica Širj. & Eig
  • Trigonella monspeliaca f. naftolskyi (Eig) Širj.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca f. nuda Širj.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca f. petiolata (Post) Širj.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca subsp. caulescens Feinbrun
  • Trigonella monspeliaca subsp. subacaulis Feinbrun
  • Trigonella monspeliaca var. glabrata Eig
  • Trigonella monspeliaca var. leiocarpa W.D.J.Koch
  • Trigonella monspeliaca var. macrocarpa Bornm.
  • Trigonella monspeliaca var. naftolskyi Eig
  • Trigonella monspeliaca var. petiolata Post
  • Trigonella parviflora Sm.

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.