Yangxin Purple Alfalfa

Yangxin Purple Alfalfa

　　Yangxin Purple Alfalfa is a specialty of Yangxin County, Binzhou City, Shandong Province. It is widely recognized for its sturdy stems, abundant flowers and leaves, tender quality, high yield, and rich nutritional profile.

　　According to Li Shizhen’s *Compendium of Materia Medica*, “Alfalfa originally came from Dayuan and was brought to China by the Han envoy Zhang Qian, but now it grows everywhere in the fields.” Yangxin County has a long history of alfalfa cultivation, with large-scale planting dating back to the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty. Yangxin Purple Alfalfa is a perennial herbaceous plant of the legume family, characterized by a well-developed root system, strong adaptability, salt-alkali resistance, wind and sand fixation, and soil improvement capabilities. It can be harvested two to three times a year. Yangxin Purple Alfalfa contains up to 18% plant protein, and its levels of fat, vitamins, lutein, and other nutrients also significantly exceed those of white-flower alfalfa and similar varieties from other regions.