Onobrychis viciifolia / sainfoin
- forage legume, taller than alfalfa
- pink pea-like flowers with striped banner petal and darker keel
- spiky inflorescence (a raceme) blooming from bottom up – up to 50 flowers
- pinnately compound leaves with single terminal leaflet
- naturalized with sagebrush and mountain shrubs, but also in the central Valley
Also known as: holy clover
Synonyms: Onobrychis sativa., Onobrychis viciaefolia, Hedysarum onobrychis
Sainfoin is a deep-rooted perennial legume arising from a branching caudex. It typically grows taller than alfalfa – a forage legume with which it is often compared – reaching 8 to 36 inches tall. The deep rooting leads to it also being quite drought tolerant.
Sainfoin flowers are showy and pink – or white or purple. They are compactly arranged on a spike-like raceme, with between 20 and 50 flowers per inflorescence. They open from the bottom of the inflorescence upward. Each flower is rather small but clearly a legume. There is a large banner or standard petal with darker pink striped veins, and a keel that is more or less wedge shaped with the big end out. It is darker purple at the far end and lighter toward the flower center. The wing petals are small and insignificant.
Sainfoin blossoms produce copious amounts of nectar and are a favorite of pollinating insects, particularly honey bees. Honey from sainfoin is high quality and tasty. Some farmers use sainfoin to create “bee pastures.”
The leaves of sainfoin are pinnately compound with 11 to 21 leaflets, including a single terminal leaflet. The leaves can be quite long, almost as long as the inflorescence.
Sainfoin is planted as a forage crop although it doesn’t do all that well in the Valley. Outside planted fields, it can occasionally be found with sagebrush and in mountain shrub communities. Interestingly, the photos here were taken off ID33 at about S5000W, which is definitely neither of those. We have plenty of rainfall here, but it does required more than 14 inches per year. The plant does not, however, do well on wet soils or with high water tables.
Sainfoin has been widely used in reclamation and range enhancement projects. The reproductive unit is a single-seeded pod and under ideal conditions the plants may spread and naturalize that way. However, it is not considered weedy or invasive.
Interesting bits – sainfoin has quite a fan club, world-wide if not especially in the Valley. It is particularly popular as a forage and hay crop. Many consider it superior to alfalfa, at least if it can be established and self-seeding.
If you would like a fun read extolling the its praises as “holy hay”, look no further than here. Some of its favorable characteristics are that it is:
- bloat free
- a nitrogen fixing/building soil enhancer
- has good digestible protein
- has a high sugar content
- is weevil and aphid resistant (but not pathogen free)
- needs no fertilizer if planted in a pure stand
- provides cheap weed control by competition
- has the highest palatability of any legume
- is a good pollen producer
- is the #1 honey producer
- and… it’s pretty
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