Medicago
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| Medicago | ||||||||||||||||
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Medicago agropyretorum |
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Medicago (family: Fabaceae, the pea family) is a genus of flowering plant, known generally as medick or burclover. The best known member of the genus is alfalfa (M. sativa), an important crop.
Most members of the family are low, creeping herbs. However, alfalfa grows to a height of 1 meter, and Tree Medick (M. arborea) is a shrub.
Other than alfalfa, several of the creeping members of the family have been used as forage crops.
Medicago species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Common Swift, Flame, Latticed Heath, Lime-speck Pug, Nutmeg, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Turnip Moth and case-bearers of the genus Coleophora including C. frischella (recorded on M. sativa) and C. fuscociliella (feeds exclusively on Medicago spp).[citation needed]
