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| White Sweet-Clover; Melilotus alba Med. |
Pea Family; LEGUMINOSÆ (FABACEÆ)
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| Clovers are sweet in any case, but this one is exceptionally so. In both scent and taste, a vanilla-like fragrance is detectable.
Meli is Greek for honey, and Lotus a name that goes back to the time of Homer, referring to a bewitchingly attractive fruit. All in
all, Melilotus is a euphonious, appropriate name, that any plant (especially a weed) would be proud to own. Still another name for
this plant, similarly apt, is Tree Clover. No other clover can grow 10 feet tall! |
| White Sweet-Clover is an annual or biennial herb from Eurasia, long naturalized in North America. It (with its
yellow-flowered cousin M. officinalis) was brought to this continent intentionally. It is good for pasturage, bee forage, green manure, and
(like most members of the pea family) enriches the soil's nitrogen levels. |
| Although not a garden weed, it grows wild with abandon, and is easily found in open, sunny waste places, industrial
fringes and the like. Growing 3 to 10 feet tall, it stands out. The flowers appear from June into November. They are individually tiny,
yet borne in showy profusion in slender spikes. The leaves are clover's usual trifoliate kind, rich green, sharply toothed, rather
narrow, and folding together or "going to sleep" at night. |
| It is edible, and has been used in herbal medicine. It has been used to combat malaria, and its yellow-flowered associate
has helped people with angina pain. |
You might ask "What makes it a
weed?" It reseeds brazenly, and grows thriftily where other plants such as delicate
little wildflowers cannot survive. So we praise its virtues and condemn its success. How typical of humanity.
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Originally published as the Seattle Tilth newsletter Weed of the Month in October 1994, along with an illustration from a book.
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