noun
- A plant of the legume family, widely cultivated as fodder for livestock; alfalfa.
Usage: chiefly British and historical; now more commonly called alfalfa in modern usage
Examples
- The farmer planted lucern in the south field to feed his cattle.
- Lucern was a staple crop for dairy farmers in the 19th century.
- The nutritious lucern hay sustained the horses through the winter.
- Modern farmers prefer the term alfalfa, though lucern remains in some regional vocabularies.