An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Medicago sativa

Medicago sativa (Fabaceae)

Common Names
Alfalfa; Lucerne
How this plant is used
Generally Recognized as Safe
Subspecies
sativa
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
ANTHOCYANINS 30 Plant Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
APIGENIN 101 Shoot 70.0 1.00 *
APIGENIN-7-O-BETA-D-GLUCURONIDE 0 Plant *
APS-SULFOTRANSFERASE 0 Leaf *
ARABINOSE 0 Plant *
ARGININE 14 Plant *
ASCORBIC-ACID 112 Leaf *
ASCORBIC-ACID 112 Plant 276.0 1470.0 -0.25 *
ASH 0 Plant 18800.0 100000.0 -0.38 *
ASH 0 Seed 44000.0 49830.0 0.06 ANON. 1948-1976. The Wealth of India raw materials. Publications and Information Directorate, CSIR, New Delhi. 11 volumes.
ASPARAGINE 2 Seed Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
AUROXANTHIN 0 Flower *
AUROXANTHIN 0 Leaf *
AZUKISAPONIN-II 0 Shoot 5.6 *
AZUKISAPONIN-V 0 Shoot 20.0 *
BAYOGENIN 3 Leaf *
BENZOYL-(S),(-)-MALIC-ACID 0 Plant Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
BENZOYLMESOTARTARIC-ACID 0 Plant Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
BETA-AMYRIN 9 Fruit 15.0 *
BETA-AMYRIN 9 Plant *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Anticalculic 1 *
Anticancer 11 *
Anticancer (Breast) 4 Madhavi, D. L., Bomser, J., Smith, M., Singletary, K. 1998. Isolation of Bioactive Constituents from Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry) Fruits and Cell Cultures. Plant Sci., 131(1): 95-103.
Anticancer (Cervix) 2 Williamson, E. M. and Evans, F. J., Potter's New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations, Revised Ed., Saffron Walden, the C. W. Daniel Co., Ltd., Essex UK, 362 pp, 1988, reprint 1989.
Anticancer (Colon) 2 *
Anticancer (Esophagus)? 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Anticancer (Forestomach) 1 *
Anticancer (Liver) 3 *
Anticancer (Lung) 2 *
Anticancer (Pancreas) 1 *
Anticancer (Skin) 1 *
Anticanker 3 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Anticapillary-Fragility 4 Wichtl, M. 1984. Teedrogen. Ein Handbuch fur Apotheker und Arzte. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellscharft. mbH Stuttgart. 393 pp.
Anticarcinogenic 4 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 189.
Anticarcinomic 2 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Anticarcinomic (Breast) 2 Medline (post 1990 searches filed in my computer)
Anticardiospasmic 1 *
Anticariogenic 6 Muroi, H. and Kubo, I. 1993. Combination Effects of Antibacterial Compounds in Green Tea Flavor against Streptococcus mutans. J. Agric. Food Chem. 41: 1102-1105.
Anticarpal-Tunnel 2 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Anticataract 10 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.