XMedicago sativa - AlfalfaX
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Alfalfa -or- Medic -or- Lucerne (Medicago sativa), family Fabaceae (Pea/Bean)
While looking a bit like clover, alfalfa is it's own man, and absolutely blankets the United States and Canada along with much of the remaining planet. An annual and perennial forb/herb, it is one of 38 species in the medicago genus. There are 5 subspecies of sativa; caerulea, falcata, glomeraewta, sativa, and tunetana.
USES: From the website Native American Ethnobotany: Costanoan; Poultice of heated leaves applied to the ear for earaches. Navajo, Ramah; Plant cultivated, harvested, dried, stacked or stored in hogans and fed to livestock in winter. Okanagan-Colville; Plants placed above and below black tree lichen and camas in cooking pits for the sweet flavor. Shuswap; Used for horse feed. Keres, Western, and Other; Taxon known and named but no use was specified.
There are a number of excellent sources of information on the uses of alfalfa;
Per Montana Plant Life - Edible Uses: Alfalfa sprouts are used as a salad ingredient. Tender shoots are eaten in some places as a leaf vegetable. Human consumption of older plant parts is limited primarily by very high fiber content. Dehydrated alfalfa leaf is commercially available as a dietary supplement in several forms, such as tablets, powders and tea. Alfalfa is believed to be a galactagogue. The seeds can also be ground into a powder and used as a mush, or mixed with cereal flours for making a nutritionally improved bread etc. An appetite-stimulating tea is made from the leaves, and is slightly laxative. Medicinal Uses: Alfalfa has been used as an herbal medicine for over 1,500 years. Alfalfa is high in protein, calcium, plus other minerals, vitamin A, vitamins in the B group, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K. It was used medicinally by the Costanoan Indians, as an ear medicine. A poultice of heated leaves was applied to the ear for earaches. In early Chinese medicines, physicians used young alfalfa leaves to treat disorders related to the digestive tract and the kidneys. In India, ayurvedic physicians used the leaves for treating poor digestion. They made a cooling poultice from the seeds for boils. At the time, alfalfa was also believed to be helpful towards people suffering from arthritis and water retention. Alfalfa is majorly used in homeopathic medicines worldwide. Today, alfalfa is suggested for treating anemia, diabetes, to extend appetite and contribute towards weight gain, as a diuretic for increased urination, for indigestion and bladder disorders, alfalfa can also be used as an estrogen replacement in order to increase breast milk and to mitigate premenstrual syndrome, a dietary supplement, and to lower blood cholestrol levels.
Per Plants For A Future - Caution: The plant contains saponin-like substances. Eating large quantities of the leaves may cause the breakdown of red blood cells. However, although they are potentially harmful, saponins are poorly absorbed by the human body and so most pass through without harm. Saponins are quite bitter and can be found in many common foods such as some beans. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will normally remove most of them from the food. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish. Alfalfa sprouts (and especially the seeds) contain canavanine. Recent reports suggest that ingestion of this substance can cause the recurrence of systemic lupus erythematosus (an ulcerous disease of the skin) in patients where the disease had become dormant. The FDA advises that children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems should avoid eating alfalfa sprouts due to bacterial contamination. Avoid during pregnancy and lactation. Avoid for people with hormone sensitive cancer. Avoid for people with gout (due to purines). Possible antagonize the anticoagulant effect of warfarin (due to vit K) and interfere with the immunosuppressant effect of corticosteroids.
Per Colorado State University Extension Plant Database - bee pollinated; flowers are sternotribic, i.e. anthers and stigma contact the underside of the pollinator; flower "explodes" when the pollinator probes the keel, thus tripping the restraining mechanism of the projections on keel and wing petals; native solitary bees and leafcutter bees are typical pollinators; honeybees rob the nectar by probing the keel from the side, thus avoiding the disturbance from flower explosion.
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Plant location: Sighted on a bicycle ride on Clear Creek Trail, Colorado - May 29, 2009. This major crop plant saturates all of the United States and Canada.Plant -
Bloom season: May through September. Plains and Foothills dweller.Foliage -
Alfalfa subspecies (Medicago sativa), family Fabaceae (Pea/Bean)
There are 5 subspecies of sativa. Two of the 5 are shown in the United States. One, falcata, is called yellow alfalfa and is one of those 2 found in the United States according to the USDA Plant Database. Images of it that we have seen, however, show blue-purple flowers and it's fruits differ from our specimen. Of the remaining subspecies, sativa (also known as varia), is the only other shown in the United States. Little information is available, not enough for us to be comfortable making a declaration that our specimen is in fact that subspecies. Our specimen remains something of a mystery. Check out the plant slide to see the wild looking fruit/seed pods of this plant.
FUN FACT: The white, yellow, and purple flowers in the side panels all came from the SAME PLANT!
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Alfalfa subspecies (Medicago sativa), family Fabaceae (Pea/Bean)
There are 5 subspecies of sativa. Two of the 5 are shown in the United States. One, falcata, is called yellow alfalfa and is one of those 2 found in the United States according to the USDA Plant Database. Images of it that we have seen, however, show blue-purple flowers and it's fruits differ from our specimen. Of the remaining subspecies, sativa (also known as varia), is the only other shown in the United States. Little information is available, not enough for us to be comfortable making a declaration that our specimen is in fact that subspecies. Our specimen remains something of a mystery. Check out the plant slide to see the wild looking fruit/seed pods of this plant.
FUN FACT: The white, yellow, and purple flowers in the side panels all came from the SAME PLANT!
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Alfalfa subspecies (Medicago sativa), family Fabaceae (Pea/Bean)
There are 5 subspecies of sativa. Two of the 5 are shown in the United States. One, falcata, is called yellow alfalfa and is one of those 2 found in the United States according to the USDA Plant Database. Images of it that we have seen, however, show blue-purple flowers and it's fruits differ from our specimen. Of the remaining subspecies, sativa (also known as varia), is the only other shown in the United States. Little information is available, not enough for us to be comfortable making a declaration that our specimen is in fact that subspecies. Our specimen remains something of a mystery. Check out the plant slide to see the wild looking fruit/seed pods of this plant.
FUN FACT: The white, yellow, and purple flowers in the side panels all came from the SAME PLANT!
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Plant location: Photographed July 27, 2007 when Mark was dual sport motorcycle riding in Twisp Washington. -
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Bloom season: Probably similiar to sativa which is May through September. -