Alfalfa

A natural history

Alfalfa is one of the oldest cultivated plants on earth, a deep rooted legume from the warm lands around Persia and the Near East. Charred alfalfa seeds have been recovered from settlements dating back some eight thousand years. It spread across the ancient world largely as the prized feed of cavalry horses, traveling with armies out of Persia and into Greece, where it arrived around the time of the Persian wars.

Its name tells the story. Alfalfa comes through Spanish from an Arabic word for the plant, often translated as the father of all foods, a nod to how nourishing people found it. Its roots reach far down into the subsoil and draw up minerals, which is why herbal traditions from the Eclectic physicians of nineteenth century America to the practitioners of Ayurveda valued it as a mineral rich restorative. A modern footnote: vitamin K was first isolated from alfalfa in 1939.

What it does for your skin

Alfalfa leaf is rich in antioxidant phytochemicals and vitamins. Analysis of the extract shows a high content of antioxidant phenolics and flavonoids with strong free radical scavenging activity.^[1] A comparison of alfalfa extracts confirms the leaves are concentrated sources of flavonoids and the flowers of antioxidant phenolics, which the authors note make them candidate natural antioxidants for cosmetic use.^[2] In a formula it reads as a nourishing, mineral and antioxidant rich botanical that helps tired skin look revived. The skin evidence so far is early.

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