_ CLASS XVII. ORDER 111. | MELILOTUS. 969 
leaves obovate, the upper oblong, linear, all acutely serrated, and 
more or less distinctly notched at the apex. Stipules awl-shaped, 
entire. Inflorescence axillary racemes of numerous flowers, of a fine 
yellow colour, at first crowded, and drooping to one side, becoming 
much elongated, and more distant. Bracteas awl-shaped, pedicles 
slender, about as long as the nearly equally toothed calyx. Corolla 
with the petals all of nearly equal length. Legwme pendulous, ovate, 
tapering at each end, roughish, with netted veins, the upper suture, 
compressed, and downy. 
Habitat.—Bushy places and waste ground by road sides; not 
unfrequent. 
Annual; flowering in June and July. 
Melilot was formerly used in medicine as an external application 
in the form of fomentations, poultices, &c., and the reputation which 
it then obtained seemed to be owing rather to the odour given out in 
its drying, rather than from any power which it had in relieving 
disease ; it is now quite out of use. It does not seem ever to have 
obtained in England any reputation as an agricultural plant, although 
in Italy it appears to have been used as a favourite food for horses. 
The Gruyere cheese has that peculiar flavour for which it is re 
markable given to it by bruising this plant and mixing it with 
the curd. From the investigations of M. Guibourt and others, it has 
been ascertained that the odour of the plant depends upon the 
presence of a neutral substance, to which has been given the name 
of Caumarin, so called from the same substance having been found 
in the Tonquin bean, the fruit of the Caumarouna oderata. The 
identity of principle in these two plants was pre-supposed, from the 
similarity of their odours; according to M. Henry it is a compound 
of ten atoms of carbon, three hydrogen, and two oxygen. The 
flowers are much resorted to by bees, hence its name of Mel-honey 
lotus. Virgil, in his fourth Georgic, in giving directions relative to 
the habit of bees, says— 
** But when thou seest a swarming cloud arise, 
That sweep aloft, and darken all the skies, 
The motions of their hasty flight attend ; 
And knoy, to floods or woods their airy march they bend. 
Then me/foil beat, and honey-suckles pound ; 
With these alluring savours strew the ground ; 
And mix with tinkling brass the cymbol’s droning sound.” 
Melilot is one of the plants of which the ancients used to make 
garlands to crown their distinguished victors on festive occasions, 
for which reason it was called |Ghirlanda, or garland flower. It is 
one of the common gay plants growing in all parts of Italy, and no 
one is more fitted for making wreaths, on account of its long slender 
pliant branches and numerons racemes of graceful flowers, and the 
odour which it exhales, as it dries, well fits it for such a use. 
