Melilotus albus seed
LATIN NAME: MELILOTUS ALBUS
COMMON NAME: White Sweet Clover
Along the roadsides and the waste ground of Europe and Asia, the white sweet clover grows as a tall, upright, branching biennial with the divided leaves of three narrow, toothed leaflets and the long, slender spikes of small, white, pea-like flowers that open from the bottom upwards through the summer, filling the air with the scent of new-mown hay. Over the seasons it steadily builds a rounded crown, standing 5-10 metres at maturity. It does well in the sun and the dry, open, free-draining ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The white sweet clover comes up in the studies of the fodder legumes of the temperate grasslands, its tall white spikes and its hay-like scent keeping it in view in the work on the nitrogen-fixing forage plants and the bee plants of the farmed countryside. The research looks at the way the crowded florets open up the spike, the deep roots feed the soil, and the seed biology of the small, hard seeds.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
In the wild garden and the meadow patch, the white sweet clover lifts the scented white spikes above the grass and draws the bees and the butterflies through the whole summer. The roots fix the nitrogen that enriches the poor ground, and the plant makes the fine bee plant, the soil-building crop and the easy tall annual of the open garden. It is a plant for the open, sunny, dry and free-draining place.
To grow the White Sweet Clover from seed, scar the hard seeds, then sow them thinly in the open ground.
Scar the hard seeds, then sow them thinly in the open ground, and keep the young plants in the open, sunny spot. The scented spikes open through the summer.
LATIN NAME: Melilotus albus
COMMON NAME: White Sweetclover, Honey Clover, Bokhara Clover
The white sweetclover is a tall and generous legume of the fields and the waysides, and its long spikes of creamy bloom have fed the bees for a very long time. Over time it becomes a compact, leafy clump, up to a metre tall. It is a nitrogen-fixing legume in the pea family, and it is known by several names, including the honey clover, the white melilot, the Bokhara clover and the white sweetclover, while it is considered a valuable plant of the fields and the waysides.
The white sweetclover belongs to the pea family, Fabaceae, and it is a nitrogen-fixing legume. It is known as the honey clover, the white melilot, the Bokhara clover and the white sweetclover, and it is considered a valuable plant of the fields and the waysides, prized for its fragrant bloom and its service to the soil.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The white sweetclover has a genuine and growing place in both agricultural and ecological research. It has been studied in agriculture, since it is a valuable fodder plant and a green manure, and researchers have examined its growth, its yields and its management, while its nitrogen-fixing roots enrich the soil, making it valuable in the rotation and in the improvement of the fields, and its use as a cover crop and a forage has been studied. The plant has also been studied in apiculture, since it is one of the finest of the honey plants, and researchers have examined its value to the beekeepers, while the fragrant flowers feed the bees through a long season, and the honey of the sweetclover has been valued. The species has also been studied in chemistry, since the dried plants carry a sweet scent, and their content, including the coumarins, has been examined, while the traditional uses of the plant have been studied. For a legume of such service, the white sweetclover has a rich and growing record of research.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
Ecologically, the white sweetclover is a generous legume of the fields. Its creamy, fragrant flowers feed bees and other insects through a long season, its nitrogen-fixing roots enrich the soil, and its tall growth gives cover for the farmland wildlife.
Its economic value is real. It is a valuable fodder plant and a green manure, grown for the feeding of livestock and the enrichment of the soil, and it is one of the finest of the honey plants, valued by the beekeepers, while its service to the soil has drawn attention in the international agricultural and apicultural press as a plant of the sustainable farm and the bee garden. For a grower, the white sweetclover is an easy and useful plant, and for a gardener it brings fragrant, creamy bloom and a plant that feeds the soil and the bees. The seeds are easy — nick them lightly, then sow them in a pot of moist, free-draining compost in a sunny spot, keep them lightly watered, and theyll sprout within a couple of weeks, growing on into a tall, fragrant, soil-feeding plant.
Description:
NAME: White Blossom Sweet Clover
Melilotus albus (white sweet clover)
OTHER COMMON NAMES: Honey Clover / Sweetclover / Bokhara Clover / White Melilot / Tree Clover
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Melilotus Albus / Melilotus Alba / Melilotus Officinalis Alba
COLOR: White
PLANT SEEDS: Outdoors in fall or in spring after danger of frost
BLOOM TIME: Summer – Fall
HARDINESS ZONE: Annual / Biennial
PLANT HEIGHT: 24 – 72″
PLANT SPACING: 12 – 24″
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS: Sun
SOIL & WATER PREFERENCES: Average – Dry