Alfalfa

When one speaks of alfalfa, one first thinks of cultivated alfalfa, Medicago sativa, a perennial herbaceous plant native to the Middle East with blue-violet flowers; however, there are other species with flowers in different shades, ranging from yellow to white, via green and brown. All are highly melliferous.

Medicago sativa is widely cultivated for its forage properties, but it is now also found growing spontaneously in the wild, notably on embankments, wasteland, and along roadsides. It reaches a height of between 30 and 80 cm; its flowers are grouped in elongated inflorescences, and its leaves consist of three oblong leaflets; after flowering, the ovaries develop into spirally coiled pods. Unfortunately for bees, cultivated alfalfa is often mown before flowering to meet forage requirements; however, because it readily regrows after mowing, it can flower again several times a year and provide several nectar flows during the summer.

In Valais, alfalfa was, until not so long ago, very widely sown in combination with sainfoin in fields intended for haymaking, precisely because of the high quality of the hay due to its high protein content.

The pale yellow alfalfa pollen is collected by bees, but it is above all the very abundant nectar that attracts them.

The plant commonly contributes to mixed blossom honeys; however, harvesting pure alfalfa honey is not feasible in Switzerland, as the cultivated areas are not extensive enough. Even elsewhere this honey is rare, since artificial grasslands are too often mown prematurely; nevertheless, if mowing is delayed due to unsettled weather conditions or if the plants are allowed to complete their cycle in order to harvest the seeds, a mono-floral alfalfa honey harvest can be expected. This honey is very light in color, mild and fruity, reminiscent of acacia honey. (Isabella Moretti).

Sources

Silberfeld, C. Reeb, Les plantes mellifères, 2016

Agroscope, Sources importantes de pollen et de nectar pour les abeilles mellifères en Suisse, 2020

Piquée, Les plantes mellifères mois par mois, 2014

Bieri, Analyse pollinique du BIP (Biologisches Institut für Pollenanalyse), 2016

Various authors, Le traité Rustica de l’apiculture, 2002

Photo: beeswiki.com