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Melilotus altissimus
| Common name: |
Tall Melilot |
Family: |
Leguminosae |
| Author: |
Thuill. |
Botanical references: |
17 |
| Synonyms: |
Melilotus officinalis (non (L.)Pall.), Melilotus macrorrhizus (Pers.) |
| Known Hazards: |
Dried leaves can be toxic though the fresh leaves are quite safe[76]. (This is possibly due to the presence of coumarin, the substance that gives some dried plants the smell of new mown hay. If taken internally it can prevent the blood from clotting.) |
| Range: |
Europe. Naturalized in Britain. |
| Habitat: |
Waste places and woods, avoiding acid soils[17]. |
| Edibility Rating (1-5): |
2 | Medicinal Rating (1-5): | 0 |
| Other Possible Synonyms: | From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below. |
| M. albus[B,P]
M. albus var. annuus[B,P]
M. altissima[E,H,HORTIPLEX,P]
M. arvensis[G]
M. officinalis var. micranthus[G]
M. vulgaris[G]
Trifolium macrorrhizum[G]
Trifolium officinale[G]
|
| Other Common Names: | From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below. |
| Citroengele Honingklaver [D], Common Melilot [L], Hindigug [E], Iklil El Malik [E], Kokulu Yonca [E], Melilot [E], Meliloto [E], Mirliro [E], Nifal [E], Ribbed Melilot [L], Seiyo-Ebira-Hagi [E], Sweet Clover [H], Tall Melilot [L], Tall Yellow Sweet-clover [B], Tall Yellow Sweetclover [L,P], Yellow Melilot [H,L], Yellow Sweet Clover [H], Yellow Sweet-clover [B], Yellow Sweetclover [L,E,P,FEIS], |
| Epithets: | From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets |
|
altissimus = tallest, highest
|
| Systematics: | From a USDA Plants Database |
|
Order: Fabales. Renamed to Fabaceae -- Pea family
|
| Other Range Info: |
From the Ethnobotany Database |
|
Belgium
Europe Hungary Iraq Nc Spain Turkey Us
|
Physical Characteristics
Biennial/Perennial growing to 1.2m. It is not frost tender. It is in flower from June to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.
It can fix Nitrogen.
We rate it 2/5 for edibility and
0/5 for medicinal use.
The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil.
The plant prefers neutral and basic (alkaline) soils.
It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.
It requires dry or moist soil.
Habitats and Possible Locations
Woodland, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade.Edible Uses
Condiment
Leaves Seedpod.
Leaves and seedpods - cooked as a 'bean soup'[8].
Young shoots - cooked[8, 177, 183]. Also used as a flavouring[46]. Only eat
the fresh plant, it becomes toxic if it is dried[62].
Medicinal Uses
Disclaimer
None known
Other Uses
Repellent.
The dried plant is used as a moth repellent[53].
Cultivation details
Dislikes shade.
This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these
bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this
nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other
plants growing nearby[200].
Propagation
Seed - sow spring to mid-summer in situ[87]. Pre-soaking the seed for
12 hours in warm water will speed up the germination process, particularly in
dry weather[K]. Germination will usually take place within 2 weeks.
Suppliers
For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.
Web References
References for Melilotus altissima (a possible synonym).
References for Melilotus officinalis (a possible synonym).
- [H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
- [E] Ethnobotany Data
(common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
- [V] Images
from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
- [B] Data
(Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
- [G] Data
(Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
- [C] Taxon data.
from the CalFlora database.
- Images
from the CalPhoto database.
- [PHARM] Phytochemical Data
(common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
- [P] Data.
(uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
- [FEIS] Data
(Uses, Ecology, Fire Effects) from the USDA Forestry Service Fire Effects Information System.
- [HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
References for melilotus officinalis (a possible synonym).
See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.
Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.
[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.
[8] Ceres. Free for All. Thorsons Publishers 1977 ISBN 0-7225-0445-4
Edible wild plants in Britain. Small booklet, nothing special.
[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
[53] De. Bray. L. The Wild Garden.
Interesting reading.
[62] Elias. T. and Dykeman. P. A Field Guide to N. American Edible Wild Plants. Van Nostrand Reinhold 1982 ISBN 0442222009
Very readable.
[76] Cooper. M. and Johnson. A. Poisonous Plants in Britain and their Effects on Animals and Man. HMSO 1984 ISBN 0112425291
Concentrates mainly on the effects of poisonous plants to livestock.
[87] Woodward. L. Burge. P. Green Manures. Elm Farm Research Centre. 1982
Green manure crops for temperate areas. Quite a lot of information on a number of species.
[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
Readers Comments
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Plant information taken from the
Plants For A Future -
Species Database.
Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963 This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Melilotus+altissimus
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Melilotus+altissimus
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