Medicago ciliaris (L.) All. belongs to the section Spirocarpos, subsection Intertextae. It is a secondary wild relative of the cultivated crop M. truncatula Gaertn., commonly known as barrel clover, and a tertiary wild relative of cultivated alfalfa, M. sativa L. ssp. sativa (USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2010).

European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)

EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)

Due to the widespread nature of Medicago ciliaris, and no known threats, it is classified as Least Concern.

M. ciliaris is found throughout southern Europe, western Asia and northern Africa (USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2010).

In France it is confined to six departments in the south (Aveyron, Pyrénées Orientales, Aude, Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône and Var) and Corsica (Association Tela Botanica 2010).

This is a common species with a broad range and populations appear to be stable (Al-Atawneh et al. 2009).

M. ciliaris is found on heavy moist soils in a wide variety of habitats, such as arable fields, uncultivated olive groves, the banks of ditches and bodies of water, and marshes close to the sea (Al-Atawneh et al. 2009).

There appears to be no major threats. It is found in several habitats which are not threatened within its distribution (Al-Atawneh et al. 2009).

M. ciliaris is a potential gene donor for the cultivated crop M. truncatula, commonly known as barrel clover, and also for cultivated alfalfa, M. sativa L. ssp. sativa.

M. ciliaris has a large amount of accessions conserved in gene banks, and is widespread in the wild (Prosperi et al. 2001).

EURISCO reports only three germplasm accessions held in European genebanks, none of which are reported to be of wild or weedy origin (EURISCO Catalogue 2010).