- Family : FABACEAE
(Pea Or Bean Family)
- Family (Hindi name) : PALASH FAMILY (पलाश फैमिली)
- Family (as per The APG System III) : Leguminosae
- Subfamily : Faboideae
- Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Medicago sativa L.
- Common name : Lucerne, alfalfa, common purple lucerne, common lucerne, purple alfalfa, purple medick
- Vernacular name :
- Vilayati ghas (Gujarati)
- Lusan ghas (Hindi)
- Lusarne soppu, Vilaayiti hullu (Kannada)
- Vilayati gavat (Marathi)
- Dureshta, Sinjhi (Oriya)
- Ashvabala (Sanskrit)
- Kutirai macal (Tamil)
- Habit : Herb
- Habitat : Cultivated throughout India, often escaped to roadsides, fields, grasslands, and stream banks
- Comments / notes : Cultivated on the hills.
- Key identification features : Flowers purple to blue; Pods forming a double spiral.
- Flower, Fruit : March-May
- Distribution :
- Odisha : Common
- Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
- Himachal Pradesh : Chamba district, Kinnaur district, Lahaul & Spiti district
- Delhi : Delhi
- Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
- Punjab : Punjab
- Native : Algeria, France, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krym, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Yugoslavia
- Exotic/Native : Exotic
- World Distribution : Algeria, France, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krym, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Yugoslavia
- Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
- Literature :
- H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1
- Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983.
- Uniyal B.P., Sharma J.R., Choudhery U., Singh D.K. (2007). Flowering Plants of Uttarakhand: A Checklist. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh: 109
- H J, Chowdhery, et al. Flora of Himachal Pradesh. Volume 1, Botanical Survey of India, 1984. Pg.: 216
- Read more :
- Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Medicago sativa. Downloaded on 1 April 2025.
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Habitat
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India Distribution
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World Distribution
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