| Fabaceae |
|---|
Medicago x varia MARTYN |
Medicago x varia MARTYN |
Medicago x varia MARTYN |
Medicago x varia MARTYN |
| Medicago x varia MARTYN |
 Medicago x varia MARTYN |
Medicago x varia MARTYN |
Medicago L. |
| M. x varia Martyn, Fl. Rust. 87 f. (1792), pro sp. K. Lesins in Can. J. Bot. 35:181-196 (1957); K. & I. Lesins in Can. J. Genet. Cytol. 6:152-163 (1964). Syn: M. hemicycla Grossh. in Zap. Nauchno-prikl. Otd. tifüs. bot. Sada 4:147 (1925). Ic: Fl. Gruzii 5: t. 203, 207 (1949), as M. hemicycla. Figure 13, p. 439. Plants of M. sativa x M. fakata origin. Procumbent or ascending perennial. Habit and leaf shape as in parental species. Racemes 1-2 x as long as broad, 8-15-flowered. Flowers 7-10 mm, violet, pale mauve, greenish, yellow or creamy white. Calyx teeth subulate, 1-1½| x as long as tube. Fruit curved into ½-l½|(-2) coils, 4-7 mm diam., inconspicuously reticulate-nerved, densely adpressed-pilose. Seeds 3-6, c. 2 mm, brown. Fl. 5-8. Rocky slopes, steppe {chalky banks, loamy hills, meadows), fallow fields, 250-2000 m. Described from England. Scattered, mainly in Inner Anatolia. A3 Zonguldak: 3 km S E of Devrek, 250 m, Kiihne 3239! A4 Zonguldak: Zonguldak to Çaycuma, 450 m, D. 37657! A7 Gümüşane: Harava, Cornelius. A8/A9 Erzurum: Oltu, 16 vii 1910, Nesterov (LE). A9 Kars: Ara. 18 vii 1908, R. Schmidt (LE). B5 Nevşehir: Nevşehir to Acigol, 1400 m, Davis (cult. Hort. Edinb.)! B6 Sivas: Yazifatihi, Cornelius. B7 Erzincan: Minar Koyu, Cornelius. B8 Muş: Murat valley, 26 km from Muş toVarto, 1420 m, D. 46110! B9 Ağri: 28 km E of Ağri, Cornelius. C6 Gaziantep/Ad-ana: Gaziantep to Haruniye, 300-500 m, Harcuij. 3559! Europe, W. Syria, Cyprus, Transcaucasia. Although Transcaucasian populations were referred by Grossheim to M. hemicycla, I agree with K. Lesins (in litt.) that these cannot be satisfactorily separated from European M. x varia; in material from S.W. Asia, however, the fruits usually bear denser, longer hairs. The greenish-flowered (F1 ?) hybrids (frequent in W. Europe) are less common in Turkey than plants with the other flower colours given in the description above. It seems that the hybrid swarms in Transcaucasia and Anatolia are older, more widespread and often more stabilised than in Europe; in flower colour and fruit shape, segregates or back-crosses may approach one of the parents. In S.W. Asia M. x varia often extends beyond the range of either or both its parents, and may even be cultivated. Diploid (2n = 16) and tetraploid (2n = 32) races (referred to M. hemicycla) have been recorded from Transcaucasia, depending on the ploidy of the parental stocks, although Lesins informs me that the Turkish material he has counted has been tetraploid. The less well-known M. schischkinii Sumn. and M. tianschianica Vass. may be of similar hybrid origin to M. x varia. |