Medicago sativa, commonly known as alfalfa () in North America and lucerne () in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae.
Native to warmer temperate climates, alfalfa has long been cultivated as livestock fodder, perhaps since antiquity. It is an important forage crop in many countries around the world and is used for grazing, hay, and silage.
Description
Alfalfa is a perennial forage legume which normally lives four to eight years but can live more than 20 years, depending on variety and climate. The plant grows to a height of up to
The leaves are typically trifoliolate. The plant has clusters of 5–20 florets, which are usually purple but can be blue, yellow, or cream. The small seeds are yellowish.
The species has an autotetraploid genome with tetrasomic inheritance.
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Foliage and flowers
Flowers
Yellow flowers
Mature fruits of M. sativa var. sativa
Seeds (actual size ≈ 2mm)
Lucerne field
Etymology
According to Merriam-Webster, English use of alfalfa dates to 1791 and derives from the identical cognate in Spanish, whose origin is al-faṣfaṣa, of an Arabic dialect. Etymology Online suggests that alfalfa derives from the same Spanish cognate (c. 1845), from the Spanish predecessor alfalfez; according to "Iberian sources" the word's root was al-fisfisa, claimed to mean "fresh fodder". Linguist Calvert Watkins suggested that the Arabic word might derive from an Old Iranian compound meaning "horse food".
Lucerne, or lucern, as a synonym for alfalfa was borrowed from French, first appearing in written English in 1652. The French word was itself a borrowing from the Occitan luzerno, meaning "glowworm", likely a reference to the bright yellow seeds of some strains of alfalfa.
Ecology
Honey bee (Apis mellifera), a pollinator on alfalfa flower
