Yellow Sweet Clover Melilotus officinalis Pea family (Fabaceae)
This native of Eurasia has, as the common name suggests, a sweet-smell. The leaves contain coumarin giving off the scent of fresh-mown pasture when dried. White Sweet-clover has been shown to be the same species as Yellow Sweet-clover. Melilotus officinalis is an important source for bees. The "officinalis" part of the name was given centuries ago because the plant was sold in "offices," i.e., apothecary stores that sold medicines. This plant was reputed to have medicinal properties.
Highly branched or that grows up to 9' tall. Small yellow flowers are arranged in tall narrow clusters. Leaves are , divided into three , , finely , green , arranged in fashion. are pods with -corrugated markings.
nectar -- A sweet fluid produced by the nectary in flowers and collected by bees and other insects.
A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.
An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production
of seed, within one year, and then dies.
cross -- To make something interbreed. The act of hybridization.
terminal -- Located at the end (the tip or the apex).
Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.
fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants.
It is formed from the ovary after flowering.
pinnate -- A compound leaf with two rows of leaflets.
leaflets -- Each little leaf-like thing in a compound leaf is a leaflet.
biennial -- a plant which lives for two years, producing a basal rosette of leaves
the first year and a full plant, flower, and seed the second year followed by
the death of the entire plant at the end of the second year.
alternate -- leaves alternate along the main stem and
are attached singly.
glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.
lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.
