Melilotus | |
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Melilotus officinalis | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
(unranked): | Angiosperms |
(unranked): | Eudicots |
(unranked): | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Faboideae |
Tribe: | Trifolieae |
Genus: | Melilotus L. |
Species | |
See text |
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Synonyms | |
Brachylobus Dulac (1867)[1] |
Melilotus, known as Melilot or Sweet-clover, is a genus in the family Fabaceae. Members are known as common grassland plants and as weeds of cultivated ground. Originally from Europe and Asia, it is now found worldwide.
This legume is commonly named for its sweet smell, which is due to its high content of the perfume agent coumarin. This chemical is responsible for the sweet smell of hay and is bitter to the taste, probably produced by the plant to discourage ingestion by animals.[2] Coumarin, in turn, is converted by fungi (including Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Mucor[3]) into a poisonous anticoagulant, called dicoumarol, that may be found in moldly or spoiled sweet-clover. This compound was the historical cause of so-called sweet-clover disease, recognized in cattle since the 1920s.[4]
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Melilotus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including case-bearers of the genus Coleophora that including C. frischella and C. trifolii.
Melilotus is often used as a green manure and turned into the soil to increase its 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. It should be turned into the soil when 8 to 10 inches tall. 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.[5]
Blue Melilot (Trigonella caerulea) is not a member of the genus, despite the name.
The genus Melilotus currently has nineteen recognized species:[6]