Medicago

(měd-e-ka'go.) (Bot.) The Medicks, a gen. of plants, O. Fabaceæ, distinguished by its more or le spirally twisted legume. M. sativa, the Purple Medick or Lucerne, is distinguished by its purple flowers and upright growth. Its herbage is green and succulent, and has the advantage of being early, on which account it has been higly extolled as an agricultural plant. It yields two rather abundant crops of green food in the year, of a quality highly relished by horses and cattle, but has hitherto proved in this country of le value than clover. M. lupulin a, the Nonsuch, is only distinguished from the trefoils by its naked black legume. M. intertext a, the Hedge-hog, and M. scutellata, the Snail, European species, are cultivated in gardens for the curiosity of their pods. [s. 588]