Medicago lupulina var. lupulina(black medick, "Kometsubumagoyashi")
Japanese name: コメツブウマゴヤシ（米粒馬肥） Scientific name:Medicago lupulina var. lupulina
[Overview]
An annual or winter annual 0.1–0.6 m tall, found along roadsides and on seashores.
The whole plant is hairy.
The stem branches and either creeps along the ground or rises obliquely.
The leaves are alternate and odd-pinnately compound with 3 leaflets.
The leaflets are broadly obovate, 0.7–1.7 cm long, with teeth on the upper half and a rounded or slightly notched tip.
The stipules are entire or occasionally have 1–2 teeth.
A raceme bears 20–30 densely arranged flowers.
The flowers are yellow pea-shaped flowers about 0.2–0.3 cm long.
The fruit is a slightly inwardly coiled, kidney-shaped pod without spines, with spiral veins on the surface, and it ripens to black.
Each fruit contains 1 seed.
[History]
It was introduced as a forage grass in the Edo period and has become naturalized.
[Uses]
It is used as green manure and as a forage crop.
[Notes]
The name compares the fruit to a grain of rice.
