Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 179 



ALFALFA; LUCERNE (Medicago sativa) (EUR- 

 OPEAN) is found growing wild in waste places or 

 fields most anywhere in our range. It makes an ex- 

 cellent fodder for cattle and will grow in waste, 

 sandy places where it is impossible to raise crops of 

 hay. 



Our Government has devoted considerable atten- 

 tion to the cultivation of this species and it is now 

 extensively raised in the Southern and Western 

 States, where thousands of tons are annually harvest- 

 ed and stored for the needs of livestock. 



The stalk is smooth, slender, branching and erect; 

 it grows from 1 to 2 feet high. The leaves are three- 

 parted, on long slender stems with narrow stipules 

 at their bases; each of the three leaflets has a tiny, 

 sharp bristle at its end, and the middle one has a 

 short, slender stem with a distinct double bend. The 

 purple flowers grow in short, loose racemes at the 

 ends of the slender branches; the seed-pod is cur- 

 iously twisted or coiled and contains several seeds. 



COW VETCH; BLUE VETCH (Vicia Cracca) is a 

 trailing herb with a weak, angled stem; it is common 

 on the borders of thickets or the edges of cultivated 

 fields. The stem grows from two to three feet long 

 and climbs over grass or low brush by means of 

 small, slender tendrils at the ends of the leaves. 



The compound leaves are made up of twenty to 

 thirty small, oval leaflets, each tipped with a tiny, 

 sharp-pointed bristle. The light violet-colored, bean- 

 like flowers grow in a one-sided raceme on slender 

 stalks from the angles of the terminating leaves of 

 the branching, hairy stem. The flowers are reflexed, 

 that is, they point downwards on their stem. 



Several other species of Vetch have been intro- 

 duced and are quite common, chief of which is the 

 Common Vetch (V. sativa) which has fewer leaflets 

 and flowers in pairs. 



