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Volume IV (1988) - Flora of New Zealand Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons
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Melilotus Mill.

MELILOTUS Miller

Annual, biennial or short-lived perennial, procumbent to erect herbs. Lvs pinnately 3-foliolate; principal lateral veins thin and straight, terminating at leaflet margin often in a tooth; stipules adnate to petiole. Infl. axillary, racemose, slender and often lax, few- to many-flowered; bracts present subtending fls, or 0. Calyx teeth 5, subequal, the upper longer. Corolla deciduous after flowering. Vexillary filament free or connate to the middle with the others; anthers uniform. Style glabrous; stigma terminal. Pod indehiscent or tardily 2-valved, ± straight, subglobose or ovoid, not armed, 1-2-seeded, rarely more; seeds estrophiolate, smooth and round in N.Z. spp.

Key

1
Corolla 2-3 mm long; plant up to 0.6 m high; calyx teeth subulate; raceme dense at flowering
2. *indicus
Corolla 4-6 mm long; plant up to 2.5 m high; calyx teeth narrowly triangular; raceme lax at flowering
2
2
Corolla white; wings ± = keel; pod reticulately veined
1. *albus
Corolla yellow; wings > keel; pod transversely rugose
3. *officinalis

c. 20 spp., temperate Europe and Asia, N. Africa to Ethiopia. Naturalised spp. 3.

Fig. 66. Pods of Melilotus. A M. albus; B M. officinalis. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X5S]
Fig. 66. Pods of Melilotus. A M. albus; B M. officinalis. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X5S]
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