WORLD CROPS BOOKS

Edited by
Professor Nicholas Polunin

ALFALFA
 WORLD CROPS BOOKS

MAN lives on plant crops, which give him his food and other wherewithal of
life. Consequently their study is of vital significance and absorbing interest—to
the student and research scientist, to the adviser and consultant, to the large-
scale cultivator and producer and to the processer and enlightened user. The
World Crops series is designed to fill a widely-felt need for general books on
individual crops or groups of crops of world importance. Each subject is tackled
on the broadest possible basis in a single volume along the three main lines of
Botany, Cultivation and Utilization, and each volume is fully documented and
profusely illustrated.

Barley E. Aberg
Brassicas . C. Banga and M. Nieuwhof
*Coffee F. L. Wellman
^Cucurbits . T. W. Whitaker and G. N. Davies
^Eucalyptus A. R. Penfold and J. L. Willis
•\Hops A. H. Burgess
*Mango L. B. Singh
* Mushrooms and Truffles R. Singer
|Onions and their allies H. A. Jones and L. K. Mann
*Pineapple . J. L. Collins
*Rubber L. G. Polhamus
Rye . A. Melderis
^Vegetable Fibres R.H.Kirby
tWheat R. F. Peterson

* Now available f Ready soon

FOR DETAILS OF A COMPANION SERIES SEE THE END OF THIS BOOK.

 PLATE I.—Common alfalfa, Medicago sativa.
(One-quarter natural size.)

1-im
 WORLD CROPS BOOKS
Edited by
PROFESSOR NICHOLAS POLUNIN

ALFALFA
Botany, Cultivation, and Utilization

By

J. L. BOLTON
B.S.A., M.Sc. {Alberta), Ph.D. {Minnesota)
Fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada
Head, Crops Section, Canada Agricultural Research Station,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

LONDON
LEONARD HILL [BOOKS] LIMITED

INTERSCIENCE PUBLISHERS, INC.

NEW YORK
1962
 LONDON
Leonard Hill [Books] Ltd.
Shepherds Bush Road, London, W.6.
NEW YORK
Interscience Publishers Inc.
440 Park Avenue South, New York 16

FIRST PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN 1 9 6 3

© Copyright J. L. Bolton, 1962

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

ABERDEEN
 CONTENTS
PAGE

LIST OF PLATES viii

LIST OF FIGURES IN TEXT xi
LIST OF TABLES xii
PREFACE xiv

CHAPTER

I ORIGIN AND HISTORY i

Vernacular names—Early spreading—Progress in the New
World—Introduction to South Africa and Australasia.
II DISTRIBUTION AND PRODUCTION 9
Europe: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France,
Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,Yugoslavia
—Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—North and Central
America: Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, United States of America
—South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay,
Peru, Uruguay—Asia: India, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey—Africa:
Algeria, Republic of South Africa—Oceania: Australia, New
Zealand.
III DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES 59
Generic relationships—Artificial key to species of Medicago—
Descriptions of the species, with notes on their agronomic values.
IV MORPHOLOGY AND SEED SETTING 97
External morphology: root system, stems and leaves, inflorescence
and flower, fruit and seed—Internal morphology: micro-
sporogenesis, macrosporogenesis, pollination and fertilization,
fertility relationships—Seed setting: tripping, insect pollinators,
honey-bees, wild bees.
V TYPES AND VARIETIES 115
Variety classification—Regional ecotypes: central Asia; Trans-
Caucasia; Europe, western Siberia, and eastern Siberia; North
America; South America; Tripolitania; Mediterranean; Australia;
Mesopotamia; India; Asia Minor; Yemen—Countries and their
varieties: Algeria, Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada,
Chile, China, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany,
Guatemala, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia
and Libya, Turkey, Republic of South Africa, Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, United States of America, Yugoslavia.
v
 ALFALFA
CHAPTER PAGE
VI CYTOGENETICS AND
 FURTHER TITLES ARE UNDER CONSIDERATION

THE feeding and clothing of the world's teeming millions can continue to keep
abreast of population increases through the help of effective application of
research in the plant sciences. The publication of this reasearch, by which means
a scientist or technologist makes his findings known to workers elsewhere, tends
to be scattered in literally hundreds of botanical and agricultural journals
emanating from most of the countries of the world. Often it appears in such
polyglot arrays of fragments that it is extremely difficult to bring together even
in some narrow 'line' of endeavour. Consequently advances are slowed and
interests unnecessarily divided, scientific and human progress being thereby
retarded.
The present series of 'monographs' is designed to remedy these deficiencies
in especially important or attractive specialities, by publishing individual book-
length accounts of the entire background and current progress in their fields.
Such detailed surveys, being fully documented and plentifully illustrated,
should prove of real value to the world at large in constituting the bases for
further advances on the ever-expanding horizons of scientific research, and so
lead to improved productivity and, ultimately, standards of living. They are
prepared by specialists usually of international reputation for their work in the
field chosen, and often culminate a lifetime of active investigation. Being
as up-to-date as possible, they will often embody significant advances not
previously published.
*Already published and available.

474
 FURTHER TITLES ARE UNDER CONSIDERATION

THE feeding and clothing of the world's teeming millions can continue to keep
abreast of population increases through the help of effective application of
research in the plant sciences. The publication of this reasearch, by which means
a scientist or technologist makes his findings known to workers elsewhere, tends
to be scattered in literally hundreds of botanical and agricultural journals
emanating from most of the countries of the world. Often it appears in such
polyglot arrays of fragments that it is extremely difficult to bring together even
in some narrow 'line' of endeavour. Consequently advances are slowed and
interests unnecessarily divided, scientific and human progress being thereby
retarded.
The present series of 'monographs' is designed to remedy these deficiencies
in especially important or attractive specialities, by publishing individual book-
length accounts of the entire background and current progress in their fields.
Such detailed surveys, being fully documented and plentifully illustrated,
should prove of real value to the world at large in constituting the bases for
further advances on the ever-expanding horizons of scientific research, and so
lead to improved productivity and, ultimately, standards of living. They are
prepared by specialists usually of international reputation for their work in the
field chosen, and often culminate a lifetime of active investigation. Being
as up-to-date as possible, they will often embody significant advances not
previously published.
*Already published and available.

474