Annual medicago ecotypes from North West Libya

Nine Medicago species were represented in collections from 10 sites in North West Libya. This report outlines species distribution, maturity characteristics and coumestrol content of the ecotypes collected. Medicago laciniata was the most common species collected but there appeared to be a relationship to soil type amongst other species. M. truncatula predominated on heavier textured soils but M. tornata and M. littoralis were more frequent on sandy soils. The Libyan ecotypes were typically early flowering with a rapid rate of burr maturation. They contained low to moderate levels of the plant oestrogen coumestrol in dry stems. Evaluation work was carried out at Medina Research Station, 20 km south of Perth, Western Australia