Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - White sweet clover

WHITE SWEET CLOVER

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Melilotus alba Medic.

Ottawa County, Kansas

Biennial

Height: 2-7 feet

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September,October

Stems:

Erect to ascending, slender, much-branched, glabrous or sparsely hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, stalked, pinnately 3-foliolate, oblanceolate to obovate, .5 to 1.5 inch long, .25 to .5 inch wide, mostly glabrous; margins toothed, particularly upper 1/2; tips blunt or rounded.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, elongate, spike-like, 2-6 inches long, 30-70-flowered, on short stalks in leaf axils.

Flowers:

Sweetly fragrant; calyces short, bell-shaped, lobes 5, nearly equal; tips pointed; corollas papilionaceous, about 1/5 inch long, white; stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free.

Fruits:

Pods, egg-shaped, 1/10 to 1/5 inch long, glabrous, brown, usually 1-seeded; seeds yellowish brown.

Habitat:

Waste areas, roadsides, and fields.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Forage Value:

They have fair forage value for livestock and deer but can be toxic to livestock when moldy.

Uses:

Native Americans sometimes hung the fragrant blossoms in their lodges.

Comments:

Yellow sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis) often grows with white sweet clover and is nearly identical, though it tends to be slightly shorter. They were introduced to North America from Eurasia in the 1700s. Though often considered weedy species, they have been used as crop plants and are valuable for honey production.

White sweet clover