I first noticed a giant form of Spotted Medick (Medicago arabica) in St Aidan's Nature Park (VC64) a few years back, where it is widespread, early into growth and achieving a high biomass early in the season, and it can form huge stands to the complete exclusion of pasture grasses. It flowers and fruits early and then dies back for the summer, before having a second flush in the autumn. Annoyingly though I have never been able to put a name to it, despite it having all the characteristics of a useful fodder variety.
This year I have noticed it starting to spread out of St Aidan's, and have also found it widespread around the stables and horse paddocks at Royds Green (VC63). Clearly, someone is growing it and distributing it in wildflower seed mixtures and for agricultural use.
Motivated to try again for a name, I've trawled Google and persevered against initial results indicating that this species is rarely cultivated and has no known cultivars. Eventually I stumbled on an old agricultural publication from 1951 (the thrillingly titled Harvesting and Cleaning Grass and Legume Seed in the Western Gulf Region). Finally someone acknowledges that three cultivars were developed in the United States (clearly so long ago that no one remembers their names) and one is called 'Early Giant'. Could this be it? Well, details are thin but it was considered notable for its early growth and seed production, and it must be called 'Giant' for a reason. So that sounds promising and it will certainly do as a name for now. If anyone knows different please let me know.
Someone had been growing something similar in Oxfordshire, though my patch is now on a green area belonging to a housing estate. Being an absolute beginner when I took my photo, I hadn't realised until now "my" spotted medick might be something different too.
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