MELILOTUS ITALICUS

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE

Common Names:- Italian melilot

Homotypic Synonyms:- Medicago italica, Sertula italica, Trifolium italicum,

Trigonella italica.

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

Theophrastus and refers to melilot's attractiveness to honeybees.

Italicus (L) Italian, from Italy.

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

Stems:-

1) 20-60 cm., usually ascending, glabrous.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets,

a) lower, orbicular-obovate.

b) upper, narrower, all obtuse or truncate, serrate above the middle.

2) Stipules, lanceolate, laciniate-dentate in the lower part.

Flowers:-

1) Peduncles, exceeding the petiole of the subtending leaf.

2) Racemes, dense, 20-40-flowered, somewhat elongating in fruit.

3) Corolla, 6-9 mm, bright yellow,

a) standard, longer than the wings and keel.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, 5-6 mm, foveolate-rugose, globose, obtuse, apiculate, strongly

reticulately-veined, yellowish or greyish-brown when ripe.

Key features:-

1) Corolla, 6-9 mm.

2) Legume, foveolate-rugose, globose.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Coastal habitats, rocky slopes with Dry open shrubby vegetation or

scrubland vegetation fallow fields, open woodland, archaeological sites. 0-900 m.

Distribution:- Coastal areas of, W. Greece. Mediterranean region eastwards to

Anatolia and Palastine. Limited distribution on Crete mainly around coastal areas.

Rare.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to May.

Photos by:- Rose-Maie Uppman