108 | THE PEAFLOWER TRIBE. = [ Melilotus. 
VI. MELILOTUS. MELILOT. 
Herbs with leaves pinnately trifoliolate, the leaflets usually toothed, 
the stipules slightly adhering to the leafstalks, and small yellow or white 
flowers, in long, loose racemes on axillary peduncles. Calyx 5-toothed. 
Petals falling off after fading, the keel obtuse. Stamens diadelphous, the 
upper one entirely free. Pod of one or very few seeds, straight, thick, 
small, but longer than the calyx, and indehiscent. 
A genus of few species, all south European or west Asiatic, but some 
spreading over most parts of the world. ‘They were formerly united with 
Trifolium, but their inflorescence gives them a very different aspect. 
From Trigonella they differ chiefly in the short, thick pod, usually with 
only 1 or 2 seeds. 
Flowers white . : . . ° : . - ° : . & M, alba. 
Flowers yellow. 
Pod irregularly net-veined and wrinkled. Stem usually 2 or 
3 feet high : : : , : : ; 5 : . lL. M. officinalis, 
Pod transversely wrinkled. Stem usually under 2 feet high . 2. M. arvensis. 
The M. parviflora, Desf., common in almost all warm countries, espe- 
cially near the sea, has appeared occasionally as an introduced weed in the 
neighbourhood of London and of Liverpool. It is near M. officinalis, but 
a smaller weaker plant, the flowers and fruits very much smaller, the pod 
very obtuse and prominently net-veined. 
1. M. officinalis, Willd. (fig. 240). Common Melilot.—An annual or 
biennial, usually erect, 2, 3, or even 4 feet high, branched and glabrous; 
the leaves usually distant, on long leafstalks. Stipules narrow. Leaflets 
of the lower leaves obovate or nearly orbicular, those of the upper ones 
narrower, often linear. Flowers numerous, 2 or 3 lines long, of a bright 
yellow, in long, axillary racemes. Pod oval, about 2 lines long, obtuse or 
pointed, marked with irregularly netted veins. MU. altissima, Thuill. 
On roadsides, banks and bushy places throughout Europe and central 
and Russian Asia, except the extreme north. Not frequent in Britain, and 
only as an introduced plant, excepting in southern England and on the 
east coast of Ireland. FV. summer. 
2. M.arvensis, Wallr. (fig. 241). eld Melilot—Very near M. 
officinalis, and perhaps a mere variety. It is usually smaller, seldom 
attaining 2 feet, the leaflets rather broader, and the racemes looser, with 
fewer flowers, but the only positive distinction is in the fruit, which is 
smaller, more like that of M. alba, and marked with transverse wrinkles 
In flower only it is often impossible to distinguish it from M. officinalis. 
In cultivated and waste places, in central and southern Europe. In 
Britain, only observed in some of the eastern counties of England. 7. 
summer. 
3. M. alba, Lam. (fig. 242). White Melilot.—Very like M. officinalis 
but usually of taller growth and longer duration, with a harder, more 
wiry stem, and narrower leaflets, and the flowers always white. Pod 
variable, but usually smaller and more obtuse than in M. officinalis, with 
the transverse wrinkles of M. arvensis. M. vulgaris, Willd., M. leucantha, 
Koch. 
As widely spread as M. officinalis over continental Europe and Asia, and 
more abundant in the south, where it becomes a troublesome weed in fields — 
