lucerne

Borrowed from French luzerne.

lucerne (uncountable)

1. (now chiefly British) Alfalfa.
   • 1841, Jesse Buel, The Farmers' Instructor. Consisting of Essays, Practical Directions, and Hints for the Management of the Farm and the Garden. Originally Published in the Cultivator; Selected and Revised for the School District Library‎^[1], volume 1, Harper and Brothers, pages 202-203:

     The duration of lucerne is 6 to 10 years; though it sometimes, like clover, suffers from the winter. To make lucerne into hay, it should lie in the swath to wilt, and then be put into small grass-cocks with a fork (not rolled) to cure. After standing a day or two, the cocks may be opened two or three hours under a bright sun, the hay turned, and soon after housed. If spread like ordinary grass, the leaves dry and crumble ere the haulm or stalks are cured, and thus the best part of the fodder is lost. I have mixed lucerne, partially cured, in alternate strata with dry barley-straw on the mow, and found that cattle greedily consumed both in winter, when fed out in the yard. Lucerne may be sown till the 15th of May, at the rate of sixteen pounds to the acre. The soil should be dry and loose, rich and clean, and the subsoil pervious, so that the tap-roots may extend down […]

• tree lucerne moth

lucerne f

1. plural of lucerna

From Latin lucerna.

lucerne oblique singular, f (oblique plural lucernes, nominative singular lucerne, nominative plural lucernes)

1. lamp; torch (flame used to provide light)