   medicago truncatula (barrel medic or barrel medick or barrel clover) is a small annual legume native to the mediterranean region that is used in genomic research. it is a low-growing, clover-like plant 10&ndash;60&nbsp;cm tall with trifoliate leaves. each leaflet is rounded, 1â2&nbsp;cm long, often with a dark spot in the center. the flowers are yellow, produced singly or in a small inflorescence of 2-5 together; the fruit is a small spiny pod. this species has been chosen as a model organism for legume biology because it has a small diploid genome, is self-fertile, has a rapid generation time and prolific seed production, and is amenable to genetic transformation. it forms symbioses with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia (sinorhizobium meliloti and sinorhizobium medicae) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. the model plant arabidopsis thaliana does not form either symbiosis, making m. truncatula an important tool for studying these processes. it is also an important forage crop species in australia. ==medicago truncatula sequencing consortium== the medicago truncatula sequencing consortium is an international partnership of research laboratories that is decoding the genome sequence of medicago truncatula, a model legume species. sequencing the medicago truncatula genome is expected to facilitate genomics research in legumes, especially the biology of symbiosis because medicago truncatula and its symbiotic partner, sinorhizobium meliloti, are popular models for symbiosis research. sequencing in medicago truncatula is taking place at the university of oklahoma (us), j. craig venter institute (us), genoscope (france), and sanger centre (uk). partner institutions include the university of minnesota (us), university of california-davis (us), the national center for genomic resources (ncgr) (us), john innes centre (uk), institut 
Flora_naturalised_in_Australia Forages Genomics Medicago Model_organisms Plants_with_sequenced_genomes