59 I 



Leguminosae 



Melilotus 



50 



Map 1215 

 Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam. 



Flowers yellow; leaflets mostly broadly obovate, generally less than twice as long as 

 wide; annual, with long, prostrate or spreading branches, mostly less than 3 dm 

 high but the prostrate branches may be 3-7 dm long. 

 Pods blackish, strongly curved, prominently rugose but not armed with prickles, 1- 



seeded, 2-3 mm wide 2. M. lupulina. 



Pods not blackish, with 2 or 3 coils, 5-8 mm wide; mostly more than 1-seeded. (See 

 excluded species no. 386, p. 1065.) M. hispida. 



1. Medicago sativa L. Alfalfa. Map 1212. Extensively used 

 throughout the state for grazing and fodder. It has become a frequent 

 escape along roadsides and more rarely along railroads and in waste 

 places and open woodland. I have rarely collected this and the next 

 species so that the maps do not indicate the frequency with which this 

 plant has escaped. 



Nat. of Eu. : widely naturalized in the U. S. and Can. 



2. Medicago lupulina L. Black Medic. Map 1213. Frequent 

 throughout the state along railroads and roadsides and in lawns, waste 

 places, and fields. It was probably mostly introduced in clover seed and 

 lawn grass seed. 



Nat. of Eurasia; widely naturalized in N. A. 



3689. MELILOTUS [Tourn.] L. 



Flowers white; wings shorter than the standard; pods glabrous, almost smooth or 

 reticulate-alveolate ; seed orbicular 1. M . alba. 



Flowers yellow ; wings equaling the standard ; pods generally with strong, transverse 

 ridges, only slightly netted, glabrous; seed ovoid 2. M. officinalis. 



1. Melilotus alba Desr. White Sweetclover. Map 1214. This 

 species has been sown for pasture and fodder and has abundantly escaped 

 in all parts of the state to roadsides, railroads, waste places, and fields. 



Nat. of Eurasia; widely naturalized throughout N. A. 



