MELILOTUS SEGETALIS

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE

Common Names:- Corn melilot

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Melilotus (Gr) Honey-clover. A name used by the Greek academic

Theophrastus and refers to melilot's attractiveness to honeybees.

Segetalis (L) Of cornfields, growing amongst crops. This epithet is

somewhat misleading; at least in Greece this is mainly a species of damp coastal

meadows.

General description:- Ascending to erect, glabrous annual.

Stems:-

1) 20-50 cm tall.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets of the lower leaves broadly obovate, those of upper, narrower, all finely

but sharply serrate in the upper half.

2) Stipules, lanceolate with broad, somewhat dentate at the base.

Flowers:-

1) Peduncles, c. twice as long as the petiole of the subtending leaf.

2) Racemes, 2-3 cm, slender, 15-30-flowered, moderately elongating in fruit.

3) Corolla, 4-6 mm, yellow.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, 3-4 mm, shortly stipitate, obovoid, obtuse, somewhat compressed, with

conspicuous, dense, concentric raised veins, pale brown when ripe.

Key features:-

1) Corolla, 4-6 mm.

2) Legume, stipitate.

3) Leaflets, all finely but sharply serrate in the upper half.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Saline swamps, damp meadows, fallow fields and ruderal habitats. 0-400

Distribution:- Coastal habitats of W. Greece. - Mediterranean region, mainly in the

W & C parts The Cretan record dates back to Heldreich and needs confirmation..

Flowering time:- Apr-May.

Photos by:- Kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images