Melilotus suaveolens seed

LATIN NAME: Melilotus suaveolens

COMMON NAME: Sweet Clover

The sweet clover is a handsome, upright, much-branched, annual or biennial herb of the dry, open places, and its fine, trifoliate leaves of the three narrow leaflets and its fine, long, slender spikes of the many small, yellow, pea-like, fragrant flowers, followed by the small, round, brown pods, have made it a treasured and fine plant of the region. It grows as an upright, much-branched, annual or biennial herb, reaching up to one metre and a half or more, with the upright, branching stems bearing the alternate, trifoliate leaves of the three narrow, pointed leaflets and, through the summer, the fine, long, slender spikes of the many small, yellow, pea-like, fragrant flowers, followed by the small, round, brown pods of the few seeds. It is a species of the flowering herb in the pea family, and it is native to the dry, open places of the eastern Asia and the surrounding regions, while it is treasured for its long history of use and its fine, sweet-scented flowers, and it is known as the sweet clover.

In the pea family it is the yellow-spiked, nitrogen-fixing clover of the dry places, a plant that sweetens both the air and the ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The sweet clover holds a recognised place in the soil-ecology papers of the pea plants, and the partnership between its roots and the soil bacteria that draws the nitrogen from the air has kept the ecologists interested for years. The natural-product chemists have also studied the fine, sweet-scented flowers and the parts of the clover with their long record of traditional use, and the botanists have mapped its place in the pea family and the dry flora of the region. The plant is best appreciated as a subject of study rather than a casual remedy, and the growers of the pasture and the green manure keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the dry garden and the pasture, the sweet clover is the yellow-spiked plant that feeds the ground. Its long spikes of the fragrant flowers feed the bees, its small pods feed the birds, and the branching growth holds the ground while the roots feed the soil. It has served the pasture and the green manure, and it grows well in the dry, open, well-drained ground. Yellow-spiked, fragrant and soil-building.

Drop the hard seeds into a cup of warm water and leave them to soak for a day, then sow them at a shallow depth in pots of sandy, free-draining soil, keep the pots in a bright, open spot and water them regularly, and the first shoots will be up before long.