Flora of New Zealand Series

King Island melilot

Erect or ascending annual up to 0.6 m high; stems ± glabrous or sparsely hairy in upper parts. Lvs usually ± glabrous, sometimes sparsely or moderately hairy particularly when young; petioles c. 5-25 mm long; leaflets elliptic to obovate, usually obtuse, sometimes slightly emarginate or acute, usually shortly mucronate, obtuse to cuneate at base, serrate, c. 6-25 mm long; stipules lanceolate, entire or obscurely dentate at base. Racemes slender, dense at flowering and sometimes at fruiting but often elongated up to 12 cm at fruiting; fls (10)-numerous. Peduncles usually > petioles. Calyx ± glabrous or sparsely hairy; calyx teeth > tube, subulate. Corolla yellow, becoming white with age, 2-3 mm long; wings ± = keel. Pod glabrous, reticulately veined, 2-3-(4) mm long, 1-2-seeded; seeds light brown, 1.5-2 mm long.

N.: locally common throughout but not collected from Taranaki; S.: vicinity of Nelson City, locally common in Marlborough and Canterbury, Oamaru, Dunedin, C. Otago, Bluff; St.: Halfmoon Bay; Ch.

Mediterranean to India 1867

Dry waste places, most common in coastal areas.

FL Sep-Jun.

Poisonous (Connor 1977).

M. indicus is easily distinguished from M. albus and M. officinalis by its smaller stature, shorter corolla and dense infls. Pods are similar to those of M. albus illustrated in Fig. 66, but are less distinctly veined. Early N.Z. records of M. arvensis are referable to M. indicus rather than M. officinalis. Some early records of M. officinalis are also referable to M. indicus.