SPECIES AND BOTANICAL CHARACTERS. 



249 



and disappears. If, however, it be cut continually, and , 

 not allowed to flower, it frequently will last three or 

 four years, and furnishes a good supply of tender, suc- 

 culent keep, much relished by cattle when cut in a young 

 state; but if allowed 

 to arrive at full flower- 

 ing, its stems become 

 so woody and hard 

 that the leaves and 

 tops are alone fit for 

 being eaten. Owing 

 to this change in its 

 structural constitu- 

 tion, and the small 

 bulk it assumes, it is 

 not well adapted for 

 hay purposes, yet a 

 small portion of it 

 mixed with vetches, 

 clovers, or other forage 

 plants intended for 

 hay -making, imparts 

 an agreeable odour to 

 them, and makes them more palatable to the stock. In 

 France a variety is grown termed M. officinalis altis- 

 sima, which grows rather more vigorously, and is later in 

 flowering than the common sort. It is to the melilot that 

 the famous Gruyere cheese owes its peculiar flavour. The 

 flowers and seeds, after being dried, are bruised and 

 ground, and mixed with the curd before pressing. 



M. leucantha is known in this country under the name 

 of Bokhara Clover, or Siberian Melilot. It was introduced 

 about twenty years since from Bokhara, by a gentleman, 

 who stated that in that country it attained the height of 

 1 4 feet, and yielded several cuttings each year of a highly 



VOL. II. 49 



COMMON MELILOT M. officinalia. 



