Alfalfa

Medicago arabica

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Medicago heldreichii

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Medicago hybrida

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Medicago laciniata

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Medicago littoralis

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Medicago lupulina

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Medicago minima

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Medicago monantha

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Medicago monspeliaca

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Medicago orbicularis

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Medicago polymorpha

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Medicago praecox

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Medicago rigidula

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Medicago rugosa

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Medicago ruthenica

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Medicago sativa

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Medicago scutellata

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Medicago secundiflora

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Medicago truncatula

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Medicago turbinata

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Ref: ITIS 183622as of 2002-07-31

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:For the Our Gang (Little Rascals) character, see Carl Switzer.

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Alfalfa (family: Fabaceae, the pea family) is a genus of perennial flowering plant, Medicago, most commonly referring to M. sativa L., also called lucerne.

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Alfalfa is a perennial plant, living from five to twelve years, depending on variety and climate. It is a cool season perennial legume, growing to a height of 1 metre. It resembles clover with clusters of small purple flowers. It also has a deep root system sometimes stretching to 4.5 metres. This makes it very resilient, especially to droughts.

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Alfalfa is native to Europe and southwest Asia, from the British Isles east to Iran. It is widely grown throughout the world as forage for cattle most often harvested as hay having the highest feeding value of all common hay crops, being used less frequently as pasture or haylage. Like other legumes, its root nodules contain bacteria, like Rhizobium, with the ability to fix nitrogen, producing a high-protein feed regardless of available nitrogen in the soil.

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Its wide cultivation beginning in the seventeenth century was an important advance in European agriculture. Its symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and use as animal feed greatly improved agricultural efficiency. When grown on soils where it is well-adapted, alfalfa is the highest yielding forage plant.

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Alfalfa is one of the few plants that exhibit autotoxicity. Alfalfa seed will not grow in existing stands of alfalfa because of this. Therefore, alfalfa fields must be plowed down or rotated before reseeding.

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Alfalfa sprouts are used as salad ingredient in the United States and Australia. 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. Alfalfa has the potential to be the most prolific of all leaf vegetable crops, processed by drying and grinding into powder, or by pulping to extract leaf concentrate http://www.leafforlife.org/PAGES/MEDICAGO.HTM.

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Alfalfa is believed to be a galactagogue.

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In the United States, the leading Alfalfa growing states are Wisconsin and California, with most of the latter state's production occurring in the Mojave Desert by means of irrigation provided by the California Aqueduct.

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A few other species of Medicago are called alfalfa; others are called medick, barrelclover, or burclover.

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Our Gang: :"The Little Rascals" redirects here. For other uses of the title "The Little Rascals", see The Little Rascals (disambiguation)....

Little Rascals: REDIRECT Our Gang...

Carl Switzer: Carl Dean "Alfalfa" Switzer (August 7, 1927 – January 21, 1959) was an American former child actor, professional dog breeder and expert hunting guide, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters....

Alfalfa related Images and Photos (experimental)

Little Rascals Alfalfa & Darla Boat Salt & Pepper Shaker Set

Little Rascals Alfalfa and Darla Cookie Jar

Elizabeth Taylor and Alfalfa Print