Medicago sativa  L.

 

Fabaceae (Pea Family)

 

Old World

 

Alfalfa   

 

Chilean Clover

                                         July Photo

 

Plant Characteristics:  Erect or ascending smooth perennial from an elongate taproot, much-branched, 4-9 dm. high; petioles 5-20 mm. long; stipules 5-8 mm. long, entire to toothed; 3 lfts. oblanceolate to obovate, 1-2.5 cm. long, sharply serrate at the +/-truncate tip; spike-like, 8-25 fld. longer in fr.; calyx 5-6 mm. long sparsely villous; corolla 8-12 mm. long, blue-violet to purple or multicolored (i.e. violet, violet-green, greenish yellow, rarely yellow),  pods unarmed, coiled loosely 2-3 times, pubescent.

 

Habitat:  Commonly cult. and frequently established in waste places, along roadsides, etc.  April-Oct.

 

Name:  Greek, medice, name of alfalfa. since it came to Greece from Medea. Sativa means that which is sown.  (Dale 115).  The name Alfalfa comes from an Arabic word meaning "father of all foods."  (Hutchens 3).

 

General:  Rare in the study area, having been found only once and this on the 23rd St. bluffs. (my comment).      Brought to Calif. in 1854, it has been cultivated for more than 20 centuries. It is a bee plant and can produce 60 pounds of honey per acre.  Also, 10 tons of hay per acre can be produced.  (Ref. not recorded).      Alfalfa has been cultivated for over two thousand years and is probably the first cultivated forage plant; it was grown by the Persians, Greeks and Romans.  It was introduced early into China and Europe and reached the United States during the colonial period.  The leaf is rich in vitamins A, K and D, minerals and protein.  It has been used to encourage the clotting of blood and in pablum for infants, as well as a treatment for ulcers.  It is much used with Red Clover and Spearmint or Peppermint as a substitute for pekoe tea.  The Indians of Utah ground Alfalfa seeds between stones and cooked the meal as mush or bread.  They boiled young branches for greens.  (Clarke 177).     The roots of alfalfa reach down 8 or 9 feet in the soil and once established can yield several crops a year.  (Dale 115).      In contrast to the above by Dale, Hutchens states that the organic salt of alfalfa is among the richest known, the depth and spread of its roots enabling it to absorb its valuable nutrition as far as 125 ft. below the earth's surface.  (Hutchens 2).        M. sativa is still known by old-timers as an excellent tea for rheumatism, neuralgia, any kind of ache or pain.  They dry leaves, blossoms, and stems, and make a hot brew of the dried bits. (Fielder 204).      The plant is reportedly used for arthritis.  The herb is reduced to powder and mixed with cider vinegar and honey, with one teaspoonful of each in water.  This is considered a weight adding tonic and also strength-giving. (Kadans 149).       Not really medicinal at all, Alfalfa tea should be classed more as a food, or at least a dietary aid.  The high mineral content of the tea, particularly calcium and trace minerals, along with Vitamin K and Folic Acid, make it an excellent recuperative aid, as well as a small but appreciable adjunct to the diet for chronic and functional illnesses such as arthritis and rheumatism, colitis, ulcers, anemia, etc. It is a traditional European and Russian tea for wasting diseases and is used in some German clinics as a dietary aid in Celiac Disease, together with traditional treatment and diet.  (Moore, Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West 20).      Natural toothbrushes were very popular before the use of animal bristles or synthetic brushes.  Natives of the West Indies, Africa, and other parts of the world still use natural brushes without additional cleansers, such as powders and pastes.  One such brush is made from alfalfa root.  Take roots of convenient size and strip off outer skin or bark, and dry slowly.  When the roots are well dried, cut them into small pieces of 3 inch length, and upon each end thereof, strike lightly with a hammer; the fibres are thus detached and form a brush.  (Meyer 205).       It has reached us through Mexico and Chile where it is called "Alfalfa and Chilean Clover."  In Chile sprays of this plant are laid about in the houses to drive away fleas.  (Parsons 332).      Parson's book was published in 1909.  (my comment).   Legume flowers must be "tripped" to prepare for pollination.  When stimulated by a bee, the sexual organs held down by enclosure in lateral petals suddenly spring up ready to yield pollen and later to receive pollen from another flower.  Bees are often discouraged by the snap and impact of the anthers.  Some bees learn to trip legume flowers without being hit.  Honey bees, for example, are regularly hit as they trip alfalfa flowers and tend to avoid visiting them.  Alfalfa seed farmers have found that native bees are more effective pollinators and they attempt to increase their nesting sites and thereby their populations.  (Ross, Edward S.  "Insect/Plant Relationships: A Photographic Essay"  FREMONTIA, A Journal of the California Native Plant Society,  April 1996  pp. 3-22).       About 50 species of Eurasia and Africa; many important for hay and forage. (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 463). 

 

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 637; Munz, Calif. Flora 831; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 463.

Photo Ref:  July 3 83 # 15,16.

Identity: by R. De Ruff.

 

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 80.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 1/18/03.

 

                                             July Photo