ALFALFA. Lucerne; ..11edirago ,';atira. Un der the name Alfalfa this plant has been extort sively cultivated in some portions of the United States, especially in California, where it consti tutes one of the important forage crops. It is especially adapted to a dry, gravelly soil, and once established, survives the winter up to the latitude of Central Indiana and Illinois, Northern Missouri and Southern Iowa. It is strictly a per ennial plant. It is also widely known by its French name, Lucerne. Its Spanish name is Alfalfa, and having been originally introduced and cultivated by the Spaniards, in their posses sions—since ceded to the United States—it has popularly preserved this name with us. It be longs to the pulse family, and is allied to the clovers, which it somewhat resembles in its growth. The seed, however, is formed in spiral shaped pods. In Northern Mexico, Texas, and in California, it is suc cessfully cultivated, being cut sev eral times in a season. Its botanical
description is as follows: Root, perennial; stem one and two feet high, branched, smoothish:. leaflets half an inch to an inch long, the lateral ones subsessile, the terminal one petiolulate ; common petiole one fourth to three-fourths of an inch long. Racemes erect, on peduncles half an inch to an inch long. Corolla, violet purple, nearly twice as long as the calyx. Introduced; cultivated. Native of Spain. Flow ers in June and July; fruits in August. Saint foin (Hedysarum Onabrychis, L., or Onobrychis Nation, Lam., a plant of the Hedysaruat tribe), is cultivated for fodder on the calcareous soils of Europe.
AWE. The family of sea-weeds and fresh water weeds (Corifiyoc) They are cellular and cryptogamic.