Medicago marina - Sea Medick

Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Fabales - Family: Fabaceae

This neat and symetrical plant, with its grey felty leaves, grows throughout the Mediterranean region but is found exclusively in coastal habitats - on beaches or in sand dunes. It creeps over the sand, and its leaves, which appear in regular intervals along the stems, form a herringbone pattern. The yellow flowers appear from March until June and are then succeeded by coiled seed pods. This seaside wildflower is a member of the Pea family (Fabaceae)

The specimen shown here was photographed in the Algarve in Portugal in April.