Sainfoin

After several days of sitting at the computer, I was ready for a day of fieldwork. It was back to Bedfordshire, for a last visit recording quadrats at Totternhoe NR. But this time I dropped in for coffee with a friend who lives nearby - the first time we've had a chance to catch up for about five years. Even though we've only seen each other a handful of times in the last three decades, there is never any awkwardness, perhaps the product of being best friends in our late teens. One cup of coffee became two, and I eventually had to drag myself away, otherwise no work would have been done - I think we could have chatted for hours!

The temperature was quite pleasant for surveying, and once again I almost had the site to myself. The flowers still look beautiful and there were plenty of chalkhill blues around, but many were somewhat tattered and everything had that feel of autumn approaching. The strong breeze made macro-photography rather tricky, but I managed to get one or two shots, including the spike of sainfoin Onobrychis viciifolia, which is worth close examination to see the freckling at the base of the standard petal.

Sainfoin is a perennial of unimproved chalk grassland where the population consists of plants that are probably native or possibly of ancient introduced origin. Other populations found on roadsides, banks and quarries are often naturalisations of more recent fodder varieties. Anyone who drives along the A1 south of Peterborough in May will see sheets of the fodder variaty on the motorway banks.

Sainfoin provides a superb forage for grazing animals and voluntary intake of sainfoin by cattle and sheep is 20% higher than for grass. Unlike many other legumes, it is non-bloating and is known to have anthelmintic properties, so reducing the problems associated with livestock worms. The name sainfoin is derived from Old French sain foin ("healthy hay"). In the words of the 16th-century soil scientist Olivier de Serres:
"The herb is called sain-foin in France, in Italy herba medica, in Provence and the Languedoc luzerne. From the inordinate praise the plant has been given, for its medical virtues and for fattening the livestock that graze on it, comes the term sain."