A type of clover plant grown in the Middle East and North Africa as a nutritious fodder crop for livestock.
From Arabic 'bersīm,' possibly derived from Persian or Sanskrit origins. The word traveled into English through colonial trade contacts with Egypt and the Mediterranean region in the 19th century.
Berseem is so nitrogen-rich that farmers discovered it naturally fertilizes soil when plowed under—ancient Egyptian farmers didn't know about nitrogen chemistry, but they knew this plant made their fields more productive, and we now understand it's because it has a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria!
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