sainfoin

[ seyn-foin ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a Eurasian plant, Onobrychis viciifolia, of the legume family, having pinnate leaves and clusters of pink flowers, used for forage.

sainfoin

/ ˈsænfɔɪn /

a Eurasian perennial leguminous plant, Onobrychis viciifolia, widely grown as a forage crop, having pale pink flowers and curved pods

1620–30; < French, equivalent to Middle French sain (< Latin sānus healthy) + foin (< Latin fēnum, faenum hay)

C17: from French, from Medieval Latin sānum faenum wholesome hay, referring to its former use as a medicine

In spring the land is green with corn and oak trees, and pink with the pink of sainfoin flowers.

No experimental agriculturist ever studied his lucerne and sainfoin as they have studied the grasses of that field.

On land, once considered worthless, he cut four hundred tons of sainfoin from one hundred and four acres.

The two most striking exceptions are from foreign soil, the purple-blue lucerne and the crimson sainfoin.

There are occasional fields of sainfoin and of turnips; but these latter are small, and no ridging or hurdling is yet practised.

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