LUCERNE / Medicago sativa

A fodder plant, but large quantities may be poisonous to livestock; it is known that it may cause jaundice in horses (North), but owing to its vitamin and mineral content, it has a reputation for increasing the speed and stamina of racehorses (it has long been used by Arabs to feed their purebred horses (Schauenberg & Paris), and human athletes. It is a body-builder, and reduces acidity (A W Hatfield). In Morocco, when a newly delivered mother has no milk, she is given a kind of very liquid porridge made of pounded lucerne seeds, for this is supposed to give milk to cows (Legey).