 |
 |
| inflorescence--look at the flowers carefully; do you see the small "slit" at the end of each flower? This slit is the space between the two wing petals. These flowers are typical papilionoid legume flowers, except they are very reduced in size. | leaves and developing fruits--what kind of leaf complexity is present here? What kind of venation? |
 |
 |
| leaves again, showing the fine hairs covering the leaves and their margins--notice how different in color the two sides of the leaves are! | How can one distinguish between Medicago lupulina (right) and the closely-related M. polymorpha (left)? Two ways can be seen here - M. lupulina typically has 8-20 flowers per inflorescence whereas M. polymorpha typically only has 3-5, and M. lupulina has stiplues that are only shallowly-toothe whereas M. polymorpha has stipules that are deeply-toothed. |