Melilotus

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Genus of flowering plants in the bean family Fabaceae

title: "Melilotus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["fabaceae-genera", "medicinal-plants", "nitrogen-fixing-crops", "trifolieae", "taxa-named-by-philip-miller"] description: "Genus of flowering plants in the bean family Fabaceae" topic_path: "general/fabaceae-genera" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melilotus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of flowering plants in the bean family Fabaceae ::

::callout[type=note] the genus of grassland plants ::

|image = Bombus lapidarius - Melilotus officinalis - Tallinn.jpg |image_caption = Melilotus officinalis |taxon = Melilotus |authority = Mill. |type_species = Melilotus officinalis |type_species_authority = (L.) Lam. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text |synonyms = Brachylobus Dulac (1867)

Melilothus Homem. (1819)

Melilota Medik. (1787)

Meliotus Steud. (1841)

Sertula O. Ktze. (1891)

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Apis_mellifera_-Melilotus_albus-_Keila.jpg" caption="''Melilotus albus''"] ::

Melilotus, known as melilot or sweet clover is a genus of legumes in the family Fabaceae, native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. The genus is closely related to Trifolium (clovers). Several species are common grassland plants and weeds of cultivated ground, and some species are now found worldwide as naturalised plants.

The scientific and English names both derive from Greek melílōtos from méli (honey), and lōtos (lotus), via Latin melilōtos and Old French mélilot. The alternative name "sweet clover" varies in orthography, also cited as sweet-clover and sweetclover. Other names include "kumoniga", from the Cumans.

Description

The species are annual, biennial, or perennial herbaceous plants, growing to 50–150 cm tall, with trifoliate leaves similar to clover but narrower, the leaflets only about half as wide as long, and with a serrated margin; each leaf also has two small basal stipules. The flowers are similar to clover flowers, but produced in open racemes 2–5 cm or more long, rather than the dense ovoid heads of Trifolium species; they are mostly white or yellow. The seeds are produced singly or in pairs in small pods 1.5–5 mm long.

Species

The genus Melilotus currently has 23 accepted species and two natural hybrids:

;Hybrids:

Others

Blue melilot (Trigonella caerulea; more often known as blue fenugreek) is not a member of the genus, despite the English name.

Uses

Melilotus species are eaten by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, such as those of the genus Coleophora, including C. frischella and C. trifolii.

The plants have a sweet smell, which is due to the presence of coumarin in the tissues. Coumarin, though responsible for the sweet smell of hay and newly mowed grass, has a bitter taste, and, as such, possibly acts as a means for the plant to discourage consumption by animals. Some mould fungi (including Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Mucor) can convert coumarin into dicoumarol, a toxic anticoagulant. Consequently, dicoumarol may be found in decaying Melilotus, and was the cause of the so-called "sweet-clover disease", identified in cattle in the 1920s. A few cultivars have been developed with low coumarin content and are safer for forage and silage.

Some species are used as a green manure, grown for a while and then ploughed into the soil to increase the soil nitrogen and organic matter content. It is especially valuable in heavy soils because of its deep rooting. However, it may fail if the soil is too acidic. Unscarified seed is best sown in spring when the ground is not too dry; scarified seed is better sown in late fall or even in the snow, so it will germinate before competing weeds the following spring.

Melilotus siculus is notable for its high combined tolerance to salinity and waterlogging. As of 2019, the cultivar 'Neptune' has the highest tolerance and persistence under salinity among all pasture legumes, according to the Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. The salt-tolerant symbiont Ensifer medicae SRDI554 is recommended.

References

References

  1. "Melilotus Mill. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science".
  2. (1996). "Genetic resources of Mediterranean pasture and forage legumes". Kluwer Academic Publishers.
  3. Streeter, David. (2010). "Collins Flower Guide". Collins.
  4. Blamey, Marjorie. (1989). "The Illustrated Flora of Britain and Northern Europe". Hodder & Stoughton.
  5. Onions, Charles Talbut. (1966-05-26). "The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology". Oxford University Press.
  6. Bulgarian Folk Customs, Mercia MacDermott, pg 27
  7. "Phytochemicals.info:Coumarin".
  8. Edwards WC, Burrows GE, Tyr RJ: 1984, ''Toxic plants of Oklahoma: clovers''. Okla Vet Med Assoc 36:30-32.
  9. Behzad Yamini. (1995). "Dicoumarol (moldy sweet clover) toxicosis in a group of Holstein calves". J Vet Diagn Invest.
  10. Christina Curell. (July 2, 2013). "Sweet clovers: What is the difference between yellow sweet clover and white sweet clover?". [[Michigan State University]].
  11. ''Five Acres and Independence'' by M. G. Kains. 1973.
  12. "Neptune messina – a new pasture legume for saline soils prone to waterlogging".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

fabaceae-generamedicinal-plantsnitrogen-fixing-cropstrifolieaetaxa-named-by-philip-miller