VARIETIES OF ALFALFA. 
The botanical name of alfalfa is Medicago sativa. 
It belongs to the class of plants called legumes. Its 
relatives are the clovers, the peas, beans and locust 
trees. There are thousands of kinds of leguminous 
plants in the world and most of them have some use. 
Some provide food for men, as the peas and beans; 
some provide forage for animals; all or nearly all 
have the power to enrich soils. There are more than 
50 rather near relatives to the alfalfa plant. Some 
of them are annuals, some are biennials and some 
are perennials. Of them all only six have come into 
general use as forage plants, and of these only one 
or two have much merit. The descriptions following 
are from Prof. G. F. Freeman of Kansas: 
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa, Linn) is an upright, much branched 
smooth or slightly pubescent perennial plant one to three feet 
high. The branches arise from a rather woody base which 
crowns a long tap-root. This root with its branches may extend 
three to twelve, or, in rare cases, even fifteen feet deep, rendering 
this species very drought-resistant on account of its being able 
to bring up water from the subsoil far beyond the reach of ordi- 
nary plants. The leaves are arranged alternately on the stem 
and are trifoliate or three-parted, each part being slightly broader 
above the middle and usually tapering each way, although the 
apex may be frequently rounded, blunt, or even slightly notched. 
The pea-like flowers, varying in tint from pale, almost white, to 
deep reddish purple, are arranged in rather elongated loose 
clusters borne on the ends of the many branches. The pods are 
spirally twisted through one to three complete curves, forming a 
coil one-fourth to one-fifth inch in diameter. This pod contains 
from one to eight seeds. The seeds are kidney-shaped, about one- 
eighth of an inch long and a little more than half as wide. 
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