Medicago sativa

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Habitus and growth type

  • Height [m]: 0.3–1
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  • Growth form: polycarpic perennial non-clonal herb
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  • Life form: hemicryptophyte
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  • Life strategy (Pierce method based on leaf traits): CSR
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  • Life strategy (Pierce method, C-score): 31 %
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  • Life strategy (Pierce method, S-score): 25.9 %
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  • Life strategy (Pierce method, R-score): 43.1 %
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Leaf

  • Leaf presence and metamorphosis: leaves present, not modified
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  • Leaf arrangement (phyllotaxis): alternate
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  • Leaf shape: compound – ternate
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  • Stipules: present
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  • Petiole: present
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Flower

  • Flowering period [month]: May–October
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  • Flower colour: blue, blue-violet
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  • Flower symmetry: zygomorphic
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  • Perianth type: calyx and corolla
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  • Perianth fusion: free
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  • Calyx fusion: synsepalous
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  • Inflorescence type: racemus
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  • Generative reproduction type: allogamy self-incompatibility, facultative allogamy
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  • Pollinator spectrum: honeybee, solitary bees, hoverflies (bumblebees, meat flies s. l., butterflies, beetles)
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Fruit, seed and dispersal

  • Fruit type: dry fruit – legume
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  • Fruit colour: brown, grey
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  • Dispersal unit (diaspore): seed, fruit, infrutescence or its part
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  • Dispersal strategy: Allium (mainly autochory)
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  • Myrmecochory: non-myrmecochorous (b)
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Trophic mode

  • Parasitism and mycoheterotrophy: autotrophic
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  • Carnivory: non-carnivorous
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  • Symbiotic nitrogen fixation: symbiosis with rhizobia
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Karyology

  • Chromosome number (2n): 32
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  • Ploidy level (x): 4
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  • 2C genome size [Mbp]: 3135.43
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  • 1Cx monoploid genome size [Mbp]: 783.86
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  • Genomic GC content: 37.9 %
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Taxon origin

  • Origin in the Czech Republic: neophyte
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  • Invasion status: naturalized
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  • Geographic origin: anecophyte
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  • Year of the first record in the wild: 1819
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  • Period of introduction: Early Modern Period (1500–1800)
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  • Introduction pathway: intentional – other, unintentional – agriculture, unintentional – plantations
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Ecological indicator values

  • Ellenberg-type indicator values

  • Light indicator value: 8 – light plant, only exceptionally occurring at less than 40% of diffuse radiation incident in an open area
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  • Temperature indicator value: 6 – transition between values 5 and 7
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  • Moisture indicator value: 4 – transition between values 3 and 5
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  • Reaction indicator value: 7 – indicator of slightly acidic to slightly basic conditions, never occurring in very acidic conditions
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  • Nutrient indicator value: 5x – occurring at moderately nutrient-rich sites, and less frequently at poor and rich sites (generalist)
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  • Salinity indicator value: 1 – salt tolerant, mostly on low-salt to salt-free soils, but occasionally on slightly salty soils
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  • Indicator values for disturbance

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  • Whole-community disturbance frequency indicator value: -0.08
  • Herb layer disturbance frequency indicator value: -0.08
  • Whole-community disturbance severity indicator value: 0.65
  • Herb layer disturbance severity indicator value: 0.66
  • Whole-community structure based disturbance indicator value: 0.59
  • Herb layer structure-based disturbance indicator value: 0.65

Habitat and sociology

  • Occurrence in habitats

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  • 4 Wetland and riverine herbaceous vegetation

  • 4L Nitrophilous herbaceous fringes of lowland rivers: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 6 Meadows and mesic pastures

  • 6A Mesic Arrhenatherum meadows: 2 – optimum
  • 6C Pastures and park grasslands: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 6D Alluvial meadows of lowland rivers: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 6G Vegetation of wet disturbed soils: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 8 Dry grasslands

  • 8C Narrow-leaved sub-continental steppes: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 8D Broad-leaved dry grasslands: 2 – optimum
  • 8E Acidophilous dry grasslands: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 8F Thermophilous forest fringe vegetation: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 9 Sand grasslands and rock-outcrop vegetation

  • 9C Festuca grasslands on acidic sands: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 10 Saline vegetation

  • 10I Inland saline meadows: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 11 Heathlands and scrub

  • 11L Tall mesic and xeric shrub: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 12 Forests

  • 12T Robinia pseudacacia plantations: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 12U Plantations of broad-leaved non-native trees: 1 – rare occurrence
  • 13 Anthropogenic vegetation

  • 13A Annual vegetation of ruderal habitats: 2 – optimum
  • 13B Annual vegetation of arable land: 2 – optimum
  • 13D Perennial thermophilous ruderal vegetation: 2 – optimum
  • 13E Perennial nitrophilous herbaceous vegetation of mesic sites: 1 – rare occurrence
  • Affinity to the forest environment

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  • Affinity to the forest environment in Thermophyticum: 0 – taxon that does not spontaneously occur in Czech forests
  • Affinity to the forest environment in Mesophyticum and Oreophyticum: 0 – taxon that does not spontaneously occur in Czech forests
  • Ecological specialization indices

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  • Ecological specialization index for all vegetation types: 4.1
  • Ecological specialization index for non-forest vegetation: 4.1
  • Colonization ability

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  • Index of colonization success (ICS): 5
  • Index of colonization potential (ICP): 7
  • Optimum successional age [years]: 10.5

Distribution and frequency

  • Elevational belt in the Czech Republic: lowlands, colline belt, submontane belt
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  • Occurrence frequency in the basic grid mapping cells and quadrants of the basic grid mapping cells: 447, 1073
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  • Commonness in vegetation plots from the Czech Republic

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  • Occurrence frequency in vegetation plots: 0.5 %
  • Occurrence frequency in vegetation plots with a cover above 5%: 10.8 %
  • Occurrence frequency in vegetation plots with a cover above 25%: 4.3 %
  • Occurrence frequency in vegetation plots with a cover above 50%: 2.9 %
  • Mean percentage cover in vegetation plots: 4.8 %
  • Maximum percentage cover in vegetation plots: 63 %
  • Number of habitats with taxon occurrence in the Czech Republic

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  • Number of narrow habitats in which the taxon occurs: 18
  • Number of narrow habitats in which the taxon has its optimum: 5
  • Number of broad habitats in which the taxon occurs: 8
  • Number of broad habitats in which the taxon has its optimum: 3

Threats and protection

  • Red List 2017 (national categories): taxon is not on the Red List
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  • Red List 2017 (IUCN categories): LC(NA) – least concern (taxon is not on the Red List)
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  • Legal protection: not protected by law
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