Ribbed Melilot - Melilotus officinalis
Favourite Photos
Species Description
Widespread and fairly frequent throughout the UK. It is mainly a casual, usually as a bird-seed alien. Habitat includes: roadside verges, field margins, grassy banks, tips, wasteland etc. Growing habit: Biennial. Height: Up to 1.5 m. Flowers: May to September. Seed can remain viable for up to 30 years. It came here as seeds introduced with clover from North America and was first recorded in 1848, Thetford, West Norfolk.
Stace 4:
Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall. (Trigonella officinalis (L.) Coulot & Rabaute) - Ribbed Melilot.
Erect to decumbent biennial to 1.5m; flowers 4-7mm, yellow; standard and wings more or less equal, keel shorter; fruits 3-5mm, transversely ridged, brown when ripe, glabrous; (2n=16). Neophyte-naturalised; similar distribution to M. albus; Europe.
Key:
- Flowers >4mm; fruits >3mm
- Fruits <5mm, mostly 1-seeded, brown when ripe, glabrous; keel shorter than wings