Alfalfa.(Drug overview)

Medicago sativa

TRADE NAMES

Alfalfa, Alfalfa Concentrate, Alfalfa Fortified, Alfalfa Natural, Alfalfa Organics, Alfalfa Whole Juice Concentrate Alfamin

DESCRIPTION

Medicinal Parts: The medicinal parts are the whole flowering plant or the germinating seeds.

Flower and Fruit: The cloverlike flowers can be yellow to violet-blue. They are 9 to 10 mm long and appear in oblong, many-blossomed racemes. The fruit is a spiraled pod with 2 or 3 twists; the center is hollow and not thorny.

Leaves, Stem, and Root: The annual, succulent plant grows from 45 to 100 cm high. The stems are erect, smooth, and sharply angled. The leaves are trifoliate, petiolate, and alternate. The leaflets are thorny-tipped, dentate toward the front, obovate, and villous beneath. The stipules are ovate, lanceolate, slightly dentate, and acuminate.

Characteristics: The taste is unpleasantly salty, bitter, and dry.

Habitat: The plant is indigenous to the Mediterranean region and has been widely cultivated elsewhere for centuries.

Other Names: Buffalo Herb, Lucerne, Purple Medic, Purple Medick, Purple Medicle

ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY

COMPOUNDS: IN THE FOLIAGE

Carotinoids: including among others, lutein

Triterpene saponins: sojasapogenols A-E aglycones medicagenic acid, hederagenin

Isoflavonoids: including among others, formononetin glycosides, genistein, daidzein

Coumestans: coumestrol, 3'-methoxy coumestrol, lucernol, sativol, trifoliol

Triterpenes: including among others, stigmasterol, spinasterol

Cyanogenic glycosides: corresponding to less than 80 mg HCN/100 g

COMPOUNDS IN THE SEEDS

L-canavaine

Betaine: stachydrine, homostachydrine

Trigonelline

Fatty oil

EFFECTS

The saponin contents act on the cardiovascular, …