Melilotus

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Melilotus >

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Read about Melilotus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Melilotus (Greek for honey lotus). Leguminosae. Sweet Clover. Melilot. Perhaps twenty species of annual or biennial tall-growing sweet-smelling herbs, widely distributed in temperate and subtropical regions as weeds, some of them of value for forage and green manure. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, the lfts. toothed and mostly narrow: fls. small, white or yellow, in slender, long-stalked, axillary racemes; calyx-teeth short and nearly equal; corolla papilionaceous, the standard oblong or oblong-obovate, keel obtuse: fr. a small, few-seeded, not twisted but more or less reticulated flattish indehiscent or tardily dehiscent pod.—The species are native in temperate and subtropical regions in the northern hemisphere. Two species. M. officinalis, Lam. (yellow-fld.), and M. alba, Desr. (white-fld.), have become weeds along roadsides and in waste places. M. indica, All., a common weed in Calif., has very small yellow fls. A recent species. The prevailing sweet clover, the country over, is M. alba. It is an erect biennial herb, often higher than a man, flowering abundantly in spring and early summer. It is said to prefer soils rich in lime, and it thrives on poor and dry soils. Under the name of Bokhara clover and sweet clover; it is grown somewhat as a forage plant. Cattle come to like it for grazing, particularly if turned on it early in the season, before other herbage is attractive. It may also be cut for hay, particularly the second year. About twenty pounds of seed is required to the acre. It is an excellent bee-plant. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Melilotus. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Melilotus QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)