Alfalfa
Alfalfa: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
Alfalfa or lucerne, Medicago sativa, is a perennial in the pea family, mainly known as a forage plant. It produces many leafy stems from a persistent base called the crown. Its generally upright habit and developed taproot distinguish it from creeping clover or an annual cover crop. It is used in forage fields and some crop rotations. The crown bears buds that produce the new stems.Each leaf has three elongated to oval leaflets. Their edges are mainly toothed in the upper section, while the base is smoother. The terminal leaflet sits slightly beyond the other two, unlike the three leaflets meeting at one point in the most familiar clovers. The foliage creates a fine green mass on branched stems that can reach several tens of centimetres.Flowers are small, grouped in racemes and usually purple in cultivated varieties. Some types show other shades. Each flower has the characteristic legume shape, with…
