Melilotus albus Medik.

White Sweet Clover; White Melilot

Herb

Biennial

Vascular

White Sweet Clover is an introduced herbaceous annual or biennial in the Bean family (Fabaceae). It is native to Eurasian. White Sweet Clover has been widely planted for forage and for erosion control and now occurs in most temperate areas around the world. In Alabama it can be found statewide but is particularly common in central and northern Alabama in areas with clayey or limey soils. It occurs in pastures, on roadsides, along railroads, in cedar glades, and in prairies. White Sweet Clover is an annual or biennial with a tap root. The stems are 3-6 feet in height and often branched. The stems are green in color and glabrous. All parts of the plant are fragrant, and the odor intensifies when the plant is dried. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, and trifoliate. The leaflets are oblong to lanceolate in outline, serrate or entire. The upper surface of the leaflet is dark green and glabrous and the lower surface in lighter green and pubescent with appressed hairs. Flowers are produced in narrow terminal racemes. The flowers are papilionaceous and white in color. The calyx has 5 teeth. The fruit is an ovoid legume containing 1-2 seed. White Sweet Clover is often planted for forage and along the sides of roads for erosion control. The roots form an association with rhizobial bacterial that fix nitrogen so White Sweet Clover can be used as a green manure to enrich the soil. It is considered an excellent nectar plant for honeybees. White Sweet Clover is a larval food plant for Reakirt's Blue (Hemiargus isola), Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus), Clouded Sulfur (Colias philodice), and Orange Sulfur (Colias eurytheme) butterflies.--A. Diamond

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Not Native

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