Alfalfa - Medicago sativa

Alfalfa
Medicago sativa L.

Family: Fabaceae, Pea
Genus: Medicago

Description
Plant height: 30-100 cm tall.
Growth habit: ascending to erect perennial with a long
taproot, often growing in colonies.
Stems: usually several, freely branched, hairless or with
fine, flat, stiff, very short hairs.

Leaves: alternate, divided into 3 leaflets, elliptic to
oblanceolate, slender-tipped, 2-4 cm long, sharply toothed
on upper halves, almost hairless to finely flat- short-hairy.
Leaflets with short stalks, the terminal one longer. Stipules
narrowly lance-shaped, entire.

Flowers: bluish-purple or rarely pink, white to yellowish-
brown, about 7-11 mm long, 20-100, in short, rounded,
stalked clusters, 1-3 cm long, from leaf axils. Calyx nearly
as long as the corolla.
Flowering time: May-August.

Fruits: pods, many-seeded, coiled to 2-3 spirals,
strongly net-veined but not prickled, 3-4 mm. long.

Distribution
Disturbed or cultivated ground, along roadsides or railroads,
in c. and s. parts of MT. Introduced from Europe.

Edible and Medicinal plant: see below.

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Contents
Identification
English Names Index
Scientific Names Index
Family Index

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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. It 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.