MELILOTUS INDICUS

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE

Common Names:- Small melilot

Homotypic Synonyms:- Sertula indica, Trifolium indicum, Trigonella smallii.

Meaning:- Melilotus (Gr) Honey-clover. A name used by the Greek academic

Theophrastus and refers to melilot's attractiveness to honeybees.

Indicus (L) From India, Indian, used loosely for the Orient.

General description:- Suberect annual, glabrous or sparsely pilose.

Stems:-

1) 15-50 cm, branched.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets, obovate to oblanceolate, dentate in the upper half or third.

2) Stipules, lanceolate, entire or sometimes with 1 or 2 teeth near the base.

Flowers:-

1) Racemes, long-petiolate, 10-40-flowered, dense, only slightly elongating in fruit.

2) Corolla, small, (c. 2.5 mm), yellow.

a) wings and keel equal, shorter than the standard.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, 2-2.5 mm, broadly ellipsoid, slightly reticulate-rugose; apex rounded or

shortly apiculate, greyish-white when young, pale brown when ripe.

Key features:-

1) Corolla, small, (c. 2.5 mm), yellow.

2) Legume, 2-2.5 mm, broadly ellipsoid.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Sandy and saline coastal habitats, field margins, wasteground. 0-800 m.

Fl. Late Mar to early June.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece. - Probably native to the Mediterranean region

and SW Asia. Limited distribution on Crete mainly around coastal areas.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to early June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton