---
taxid: 3879
genus: Medicago
species: sativa
abbrev: medsa 
commonName: alfalfa
description: "Alfalfa, also called lucerne and called Medicago sativa in binomial nomenclature, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as well as a green manure and cover crop. The name alfalfa is used in North America. The name lucerne is the more commonly used name in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand."

strains:
  - identifier: CADL_HM342
    accession: HM342
    name: CADL (Cultivated Alfalfa at the Diploid Level)
    origin: Noble Foundation
    description: "CADL (HM342) was developed from cultivated tetraploids over 10 years to produce a diploid form."
    resources:
      - name: Medicago SequenceServer
        URL: "https://medicago.legumeinfo.org/tools/sequenceserver"
        description: "SequenceServer BLAST against the CADL_HM342 genome assembly v1.0"
  - identifier: XinJiangDaYe  
    accession: XinJiangDaYe
    name: XinJiangDaYe
    origin: China
    description: "Xinjiang Daye is a salt-sensitive cultivar of alfalfa."
    resources:
      - name: LIS SequenceServer
        URL: "https://sequenceserver.legumeinfo.org/"
        description: "SequenceServer BLAST against the XinJiangDaYe assembly v1.0"
  - identifier: Zhongmu_No_1  
    accession: Zhongmu_No_1
    name: "Zhongmu No. 1"
    origin: China
    description: "Zhongmu No. 1 is a widely grown cultivar in Northern China"
    resources:
      - name: Medicago SequenceServer
        URL: "https://medicago.legumeinfo.org/tools/sequenceserver"
        description: "SequenceServer BLAST against the Zhongmu No. 1 genome assembly v1.0"
  - identifier: PI464715
    accession: PI464715
    name: PI464715
    origin: Turkey
    description: "PI464715 is a representative of Medicago sativa spp. caerulea, the diploid progenitor of the cultivated autotetraploid"
    resources:
      - name: Medicago SequenceServer
        URL: "https://medicago.legumeinfo.org/tools/sequenceserver"
        description: "SequenceServer BLAST against the PI464715 genome assembly v1.0"
  - identifier: RegenSY27x
    accession: RegenSY27x
    name: RegenSY27x
    origin: Samac Lab, USDA
    description: "This plant was selected for high regeneration in tissue culture. It was bred by crossing two plants, first generation selfed (S1) parents from Regen-S (Medicago sativa) and Regen-Y (Medicago falcata) (Bingham, ET. 1991. Registration of alfalfa hybrid Regen-SY germplasm for tissue culture and transformation research. Crop Science 31:1098.) It has purple flowers but clusters more closely with M. falcata than with M. sativa."
    resources:
      - name: Medicago SequenceServer
        URL: "https://medicago.legumeinfo.org/tools/sequenceserver"
        description: "SequenceServer BLAST against the RegenSY27x genome assembly v0.9"