Flora of North America species comparison

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Melilotus indicus

annual yellow or Indian or small-flower sweet-clover, annual yellow sweet-clover, Indian sweet-clover, small-flower melilot, small-flower sweet clover, small-flower yellow sweet-clover, sour clover, yellow sweetclover
Habit Herbs annual, (10–)15–60 cm.
Stems

erect or ascending.
Leaves

stipules lanceolate-subulate to setaceous, (3–)4–6(–8) mm, margins subentire (entire or toothed at base);

leaflet blades lanceolate-oblong, oblanceolate, or obovate, (8–)12–25 × (2–)7–10 mm, margins dentate.
Racemes

10–50-flowered.
Pedicels

1 mm.
Flowers

1.5–3 mm;

corolla yellow;

ovary glabrous.
Legumes

subglobose, 1.5–3(–4) mm, strongly reticulate-veined, glabrous.
Seeds

1 (or 2), ovoid, 1.8–2.3 mm.
2n

= 16 [18 (Asia)].

Melilotus indicus
Phenology Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Waste places, roadsides, grass­lands.
Elevation 0–2000 m. (0–6600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; DE; FL; GA; ID; KY; LA; MA; ME; MI; MN; MS; NC; ND; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OK; OR; PA; SC; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; NS; Asia; Greenland; Europe; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, Central America (Honduras), South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile), Pacific Islands (New Zealand)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Melilotus indicus occasionally has been grown as a forage crop in the southern United States; it is generally considered to be an undesirable weed.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Melilotus
Sibling taxa
M. albus, M. altissimus, M. officinalis, M. sulcatus, M. wolgicus
Synonyms Trifolium indicum, Trigonella smallii
Name authority (Linnaeus) Allioni: Fl. Pedem. 1: 308. (1785) — (as indica)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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