Blooming near you in North America, generally ignored, is black medic, Medicago lupulina (pea family, Fabaceae). This is a little invader from Eurasia that is found all across the North America.
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| black medic, Medicago lupulina |
First reported in 1792 in Canada, black medic has spread so that today it is now in all the continental United States and across Canada.
Medicago is the genus of the important agricultural crop, alfalfa (Medicago sativa also called lucerne) plus about 85 other species native around the Mediterranean Sea. The name Medicago is based on the classical Greek name for alfalfa, medike, which meant "introduced from Medes" (ancient Persia). You'll note that medike is close to medic, used in the common name of black medic but not alfalfa.
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| patch of black medic Medicago lupulina |
The species epithet lupulina means "like hops" as the clustered fruits in the seed pods resemble those of hops. But you might recognize the stem lupus, "wolf." Hops is Humulus lupulus, and lupulus means "little wolf" because the Roman name for hops was "willow-wolf." Black medic resembles the willow-wolf. (A surprising number of plants were called wolves.)
The common name black medic refers to the seed pods, which are black when ripe. They are tiny bean-pods, clustered on the stem each with a single seed inside. (Purdue has a much better photo of the seed pods than any of mine link scroll down).
Medic is spelled both medic and medick. The Flora of North America spells it medic, the Flora of Colorado spells it medick, so, clearly, you can take your choice.
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| black medic Medicago lupulina |
One of the reasons for its success in North America is that black medic can survive as a tiny plant or, in good conditions, send out branches nearly a foot long. It can grow in full sun or deep shade. It is not a vine but will tangle other plants, so weeding it out of my flowerbeds gets compicated.
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| black medic expanding in a shady spot |
However, black medic, like other pea family plants, captures nitrogen and adds it to the soil around it, so it is beneficial to poor soils. In fact, to discourage it as a lawn weed, fertilizing with nitrogen is recommended, destroying its advantage over lawn grasses. It hs been used as a cover crop to stabilize the soil and is good forage for cattle and other animals. Under some conditions it will grow for several years (be perennial) but most often it is annual, which reduces its usefulness as a cover crop. Animals can get bloat from eating too much black medic, but they rarely find enough for that to happen.
It has pretty yellow flowers which attract and feed small pollinators.
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| black medic crossing the border stones (seen from above) |
The diagnostic feature used to tell the leaves from other clovers and Medicago species is that the petiole (stem) to the center leaflet of the group of three is longer than the petioles of the two leaves on each side. Check the photo above. North America has mainly black medic, alfalfa and bur clover (Medicago polymorpha) in the genus Medicago. You can tell them apart because alfalfa has purple flowers, not yellow like black medic. Bur clover has burs--the seed pods are spiny!--and little points all along the leaf edges. A fourth species, spotted bur clover, Medicago arabica, still confined to the east and west coasts of North America, has very obvious spots on each leaflet.
In Eurasia, black medic leaves were cooked as a green vegetable (potherb) and the seeds eaten, parched or ground to flour. At least one California Indian tribe told an ethnobotanist that they ate black medic seeds. However, only three of my 20 edible wild plant books mention it; alfalfa is listed by more books (7), a plant I had only thought of as animal food. The websites EattheWeeds and EatthePlanet both include black medic. I haven't tried it. It is a small enough plant that it is difficult to pick enough to make even a small serving. The tiny seeds are even more of a project to gather.
For some people, black medic is the shamrock of Ireland. The exact identity of the shamrock remains a mystery. In surveys (1893, 1988) researchers asked people all across Ireland what plant was the shamrock. Both times, 6-7% said it was black medic. (
Trifolium dubium, lesser clover, got the most support, 51% and 46%). Feel free to claim shamrock status for black medic.
This is a very common plant that we rarely notice.
Comments and corrections welcome.
References
Ackerfield, J. 2022. Flora of Colorado. 2nd. ed. Denver Botanic Gardens. BRIT Press, Fort Worth, Texas.
Couplan, F. 1998.The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America. Keats Publishing Co., New Canaan, Connecticut.
Deane, G. 2018. Black Medic. Eat the Weeds link
Mac Coitir, N. 2023. Ireland's Wild Plants. Collins Press, Wilton, Cork, Ireland. Online summary of shamrock identity: Shamrock. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamrock (Accessed 8/16/25)
Small, E. Medicago. Flora of North America link (Accessed 8/16/25)
Stearn, W. T. 1996. Stearn's Dictionary or Plant Names for Gardeners. Cassell Publications, London.
Tjandra, C. 2022. Black medic, an underrated and useful wild edible. Eat the Planet. link
A Wandering Botanist
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