Friday Foraging #62 - 17th Jan 2025

Friday Foraging.

Yesterdays Herbs for Healing was Alfalfa. More commonly called Lucerne in the UK.

Alfalfa grows best in the UK between April and September, when soil temperatures are above 8°C. For some reason it seems to grow very well in Lincolnshire.

It is a small perennial often found in farmers fields, but has also has escaped into the wild in both rural and urban areas, where it can be found in meadows, near rivers and woodlands, areas along roadsides and railroads, abandoned fields, vacant lots, and miscellaneous waste areas. It prefers disturbed habitats, and is not a major invader of high quality natural areas. It is very resilient due to its deep root balls, especially to droughts. Stems are round lower down, more or less angular towards the top, and usually smooth. The flowers resemble the clover in appearance.

The flowers are in a short and somewhat one-sided cluster. Each cluster contains from ten to twenty purple flowers of the ordinary leguminous shape. The leaves, which are alternate and scattered along the stem, consist of three leaflets like those of clover. The leaflets are rather narrow, two to three times as long as broad, and sharply toothed in their upper part. The middle leaf has a short stalk.