THE COMMON YELLOW MELILOT— continued. 
from the cells on one side of that structure to those on the other, so that the osmotic 
tension is reduced to a minimum on one side. 
A mediaeval Latin name for Melilotus altissima was Corona Regis, “ King’s Crown,” 
“ because,” Parkinson fancifully explains, “ the yellowe flowers doe crowne the 
toppes of the stalkes.” These little flowers hang downwards in a secund manner, all, 
that is, on one side of the axis. They have five nearly equal teeth to the calyx ; 
and petals, nearly equal in length, which fall immediately after fertilisation. The 
surfaces of the wing petals are at one part so interlocked with those of the keel that, 
when the flower is visited by an insect, they move together both downwards and 
upwards. There is no true explosive or piston action, the filaments being slender 
above. The copious honey gives its name to the genus (from the Greek /xeXt, meli^ 
honey ; Xojto?, lotos, a name applied to various plants) ; and, under the weight of 
insects coming for it, the wing and keel petals are depressed and both stamens and 
stigma emerge, the parts resuming their former position when the pressure is 
removed. Repeated visits may thus occur in which cross-pollination may be 
brought about. 
When dried, the Melilot acquires a strong fragrance like that of new-mown 
hay. This is due to the presence of coumarin or coumaric anhydride, a compound 
that takes its name from the Tonka bean {Coumarouna odorata Aublet). Coumarin 
has now been found in a great variety of plants, in the Sweet-scented Vernal Grass 
{Anthoxanthum odoratum Linn6), the Northern Holy Grass {Hierochloe odorata Wahlen- 
Angrcecum fragrans Reichenbach filius, the “ Faham Tea” of Mauritius, and 
various species of Orchis, the Sweet Woodruff [Aspenda odorata Linne), the Wild 
Vanilla of North Carolina {Liatris odoratissima Willdenow), and the Fenugreek 
{Trigonella Fcennm-gr cecum Linne), a near ally of Melilotus. This last-named plant, 
which has been cultivated since the time of Theophrastus, in the third century b.c., 
gets its specific and English names, which mean “ Greek hay,” from its ancient use 
in the fraudulent improvement of sour hay ; and Melilotus alba Desrousseaux is grown 
as Bokhara Clover and recommended for the same purpose. The powdered flowers of 
M. ccerulea Linne, the Ziegerkraut or Curd-plant of Switzerland, are used to flavour the 
well-known Chapziger cheese ; and, while Gerard writes of Melilotus altissima itself 
as Plaister Clover, because 
‘‘with the juice hereof, oyle, waxe, rosin, and turpentine, is made a most soveraigne healing and drawing emplaister, called 
Melilotc plaister, retaining both the colour and savour of the herbe ” ; 
Sir James Edward Smith speaks of the “ odious scent ” of the plaster which was 
“ of no use whatever.” 
For perfumery coumarin is now largely produced synthetically. 
