COMPARATIVE HISTOLOGY OF ALFALFA AND 
CLOVERS 
KATE BARBER WINTON 
(WITH EIGHT FIGURES) 
Perennial leguminous forage plants are growing in importance 
both for green feeding and for hay, and some of them, notably 
alfalfa, red and alsike clovers, are well adapted for grinding into 
meal. The work detailed in this paper was undertaken to facilitate 
the microscopic identification of the species named in mixed cattle 
foods. 
The highest feeding value of the hay or ‘“‘meal’’ is obtained 
from plants cut in early flower, though the more or less mature 
fruits and seeds are not infrequently found in the products on the 
market, especially in alfalfa meal. 
Alfalfa 
Alfalfa (Medica sativa [L.] Mill., Medicago sativa L.) is a native 
of Asia and has been cultivated for fodder since long before the 
Christian era. It is now grown in both hemispheres, especially 
in the arid and semiarid regions of the Southwest, for use either 
fresh or dried. As the hay is 
brittle, resulting, when fed from 
the bale, in a considerable loss of 
leaves, the product is often kiln- 
dried and ground to a meal. 
Ordinary alfalfa, or lucerne, 
branches profusely and bears Fic. 1.—Alfalfa (Medica setiva): I, 
alternate leaves (fig. 1, I) con- ‘eal, Xt; 11, flower, X3; 11, seed, 
een rey Mas 2, tet, Xs. 
sisting of three distinct obovate to 
lanceolate leaflets finely dentate at the apex. The plant is described 
as glabrous; hairs, however, are evident under a lens and are highly 
characteristic with higher magnifications. The flowers (fig. 1, IZ) 
appear in racemes of 8-25 each and wither after flowering. They 
are of the distinctly papilionaceous type, small (8-10 mm. in length), 
53] [Botanical Gazette, vol. 57 
