Author: navidcod 
Medicago turbinata
Masoumeh Izadpanah, Parvin Salehi Shanjani and Leila Falah Hoseini
Natural Resources Gene Bank, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Tehran, Iran.
Uploaded at August 2021
Scientific editor: Valiullah Mozaffarian
Seed Storage
The storage behavior of this species is orthodox (desiccation-tolerant seeds); dry to 15-20% eRH and store at -20 °C.
Germination requirements
The seeds of this species are not dormant. Sterilize seeds before placing them on wet germination paper. Place seeds for two weeks in 4 ºC to germinate uniformly. Then germinate under an alternating temperature regime of 15/20 ºC (the higher temperature for 16 hours in light and the lower one for eight hours in dark).
Morphology
Fruit type: Pod
Fruit shape: Ash grey to blackish, cylindrical-truncate to barrel-shape, glabrous, spiny, tubercled, or spineless; number of coils 4-6 (7), usually appressed, turning clockwise or anticlockwise; coil surface with 7-10 slightly curved, often indistinct veins radiating from the ventral suture and ending in a veinless zone, which occupies a space 1/5-1/3 of the radius of coil surface; a deep, narrow groove is present between the coil margin and the dorsal suture; dorsal suture, especially in young pods, steeply elevated in the middle of the coil edge; spines or tubercles, if present, 12-16 in each row, 1-4 mm long, with broadly conical base embedded in alveolar tissue; spines inserted at 180° to 225° (= arching over the dorsal suture) to the corresponding coil surface. In some forms, the spines are inclined in the opposite direction to that of pod coiling. This character may have provided the specific epithet ‘turbinata’.
Seed shape: Oblong-ovoid, 1-2 seeds in each coil, separated; seed coat smooth, yellow, darker colored at the tip and hilum; radicle less than half the length of the seed.
Fruit size: Diameter 4-6 mm, thickness (4- ) 5-7.5 (-9) mm
Seed size: Length (3.2-) 4-4.5 mm, maximum width 2-2.8 mm, thickness (0.5-) 0.9-1 mm in an accession from Karaj with 1000 seed weight 7.6 g, which was collected in 1999 and the cultivated sample was identified by Masumeh Izadpanah and Iraj Mehregan with accession number 3449.
1000 seed weight: 2.7-7.8 g
Biological features
Life Form: Herbaceous, annual, procumbent to ascending
Inflorescences and flower type and pollination mechanisms: Flowers in axillary pedunculate racemes, hermaphrodite, zygomorphic and asymmetric; corolla (composed of banner: upper large petal, wings: two petals adjacent to the banner, and keel: two bottom petals) bright yellow, wings shorter than the keel, rarely as long as or longer.; stamens are always ten in number, and their filaments are fused in a group of nine stamens plus one separate stamen (9+1). Plant monoecious, self-pollinate with 10% cross-pollination, which is carried out by insects.
Time of flowering: June to September
Time of seed ripening: June to October
Seed dispersal methods: The seeds are displaced by weight. Pods move by attaching to the wool and hair of animals.
Geographical distribution:
Distribution in Iran: West and North. West Azerbaijan, Qazvin, Mazandaran, and Kermanshah
Taxonomy
Family: Papilionaceae
Genus: Medicago
Species: turbinata
Common name: Southern medick
References and Links
Ghahraman, A. Flore of Iran. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands with University of Tehran Publication. https://floraofiran.net/index.php.
Lesins, K.A. and Lesins, I. 1979. Genus Medicago (Leguminosae): a taxogenetic study. The Hague, Boston, London: Dr W. Junk Publisher, 234 pp.
Small, E. and Brookes, B. 1990. Circumscription of the genus Medicago (Leguminosae) by seed characters. Can. J. Bot. 68: 613-629.
Small, E. and Jomphe, M. 1988. A synopsis of the genus Medicago (Leguminosae). Canadian Journal of Botany, 67: 3260-3294.
Mehregan, I., Rahiminejad, M.R. and Azizian, D. 2002. A taxonomic revision of the genus Medicago L. (Papilionaceae) in Iran. Iranian Journal of Botany, 9: 207-221(In Persian).
Mozaffarian, V. 2012. A Pictorial Dictionary of Botany. Farhange Moaser Publisher, 1088 pp.
Rechinger, K.H. 1984. Flora Iranica 157. Akadmische Druch. U. Verlagsanstalt. Graz.
