The Urban Pantheist

Location: Commonwealth Avenue, two blocks west of Harvard Avenue, Allston.

Urban species #163: Black medick Medicago lupulina

You know red clover, you know white clover, but what's this clover with yellow flowers? There are actually several relatives of clover that have yellow blossoms, but the most common one in the city is black medick. The name comes from the black seed pods it produces--the "medick" part is a little less intuitive. Medick is an anglicized form of Medica, which, in this context means "of Media," an area of the Middle East. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is the plant that originally had this name, and black medick is closely related. It would be tempting to find a history of medicinal use for plants named medick, but the mundane truth is that they are used in agriculture. They are good forage for livestock, and their roots contain symbiotic bacteria that fertilize the soil. Black medick is known, even in its native Eurasia, to be a colonizer of waste areas, an attribute common to many urban plants. It is found in every U.S. state, including Alaska and Hawaii, and is considered invasive in some areas.