Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
—
Not native
Not native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 71%
- Height
- About 2 feet
- Light
- 4 or more hours of direct sun
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At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual or perennial
- Bloom
- Spring
- Fruiting season
- Summer
Not yet recorded · Spread · Soil · Leaves
Recorded in 70 Virginia counties.
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
65CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Medicago
- Achyra rantalisGarden Webworm Moth
- Agnorisma badinodisPale-Banded Dart
- Agrotis gladiariaSwordsman Dart, Clay-Backed Cut-Worm
- Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
- Agrotis venerabilisVenerable Dart, Dusky Cut-Worm
- Agrotis vetustaOld Man Dart
- Agrotis volubilisVoluble Dart
- Amyna strictaEight-Spot Moth
- Anagrapha falciferaCelery Looper Moth
- Anarta trifoliiThe Nutmeg, Clover Cutworm
Show all 65
- Anticarsia gemmatalisVelvetbean Caterpillar Moth
- Apamea devastatorGlassy Borer, Glassy Cutworm Moth
- Apantesis figurataFigured Tiger Moth
- Archips argyrospilaFruit-Tree Leafroller Moth
- Autographa precationisCommon Looper Moth
- Caenurgina crassiusculaForage Looper Moth, Clover Looper, Range Grass Moth
- Caenurgina erechteaClover Looper Moth, Common Grass Moth, Forage Looper
- Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
- Chloridea virescensTobacco Budworm Moth
- Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
- Colias eurythemeOrange Sulphur, Alfalfa Butterfly
- Colias philodiceClouded Sulphur, Clover Butterfly
- Cupido comyntasEastern Tailed-Blue
- Elaphria grataGrateful Midget
- Euxoa divergensDivergent Dart
- Feltia jaculiferaDingy Cutworm
- Feltia subgothicaSubgothic Dart
- Feltia subterraneaSubterranean Dart, Granulate Cutworm
- Glaucopsyche lygdamusSilvery Blue
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Heliothis phloxiphagaSpotted Straw Sun Moth, Darker Spotted Straw Moth
- Herpetogramma bipunctalisSouthern Beet Webworm, Two-Spotted Herpetogramma
- Hydraecia immanisHop Borer, Hop Vine Borer
- Hypena scabraGreen Cloverworm Bomolocha, Black Snout
- Iridopsis humariaSmall Purplish Gray
- Iridopsis larvariaBent-Line Gray
- Lacinipolia explicataExplicit Groundcat, Explicit Arches
- Lacinipolia loreaBridled Arches, Bridle Groundcat
- Lacinipolia lustralisLustral "Mamestra"
- Lacinipolia renigeraBristly Ground Cat, Bristly Cutworm Moth, Kidney Spotted "Mamestra"
- Lacinipolia vicinaAllied Mamestra, Neighborly Arches
- Macrochilo litophoraAngulate Fan-Foot, Brown-Lined Owlet
- Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
- Melanchra adjunctaHitched Arches
- Melanchra pictaPainted Arches, Zebra Caterpillar Moth
- Mythimna unipunctaArmyworm Moth, White Speck
- Nomophila nearcticaLucerne Moth, American Celery Webworm
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Phoebis sennaeCloudless Sulphur
- Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
- Platynota rostranaOmnivorous Platynota
- Platynota stultanaOmnivorous Leafroller
- Sparganothis sulfureanaSparganothis Fruitworm Moth, Sulfur Leafroller, False Yellow-Head
- Sparganothis unifascianaOne-Lined Sparganothis
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Trichoplusia niNi Moth, Cabbage Looper Moth
- Udea rubigalisCelery Leaftier
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Xestia dolosaGreater Black-Letter Dart, Greater Spotted Cutworm
- Xylena nuperaRed Swordgrass Moth, American Swordgrass Moth, False Armyworm
- Xenotemna pallorana
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
10BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Medicago
- Antigone canadensisSandhill Crane
- Branta canadensisCanada Goose
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
- Callipepla gambeliiGambel's Quail
- Centrocercus urophasianusGreater Sage-Grouse
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Oreortyx pictusMountain Quail
- Perdix perdixGray Partridge
- Pheucticus melanocephalusBlack-headed Grosbeak
- Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Growing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Flower color
- Purple
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth habit
- Single crown
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- Summer
- Fruit ends
- Summer
What its natural habitat tells you
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “Spring” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Flower color · “Purple” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Single crown” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Rapid” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Height · “About 2 feet” · USDA PLANTS (ranked first; Minnesota Wildflowers differs) · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Life cycle · “Annual or perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- primary_flower_color · “purple” · USDA PLANTS
Also known as
Sickle Medic
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications