How to Grow and Care for Melilots

White sweetclover (Melilotus albus) is a flowering herbaceous plant also known as white melilot and honey-clover. White sweetclover is a sweet-scented herb. The leaves of this species are divided into three leaflets and have small, sharp teeth.

Yellow sweet clover is a nitrogen-fixing legume often used in pastures. Yellow flowers attract pollinators, while the seeds make an ideal food for small animals. The dense habit provides nesting areas for ducks and small mammals. Yellow sweet clover can be used for livestock, however, they may initially reject the legume due to its bitter taste and will eat it only after their palates become used to the flavor.

Annual yellow sweet clover (Melilotus indicus) is a herb that’s indigenous to Asia, Europe, and northern Africa. It grows 10 to 50 cm in height, and, because it is a nitrogen fixer, is commonly used to improve soil. Annual yellow sweet clover has become invasive in the U.S., though it can still be a useful source of nectar for bees.

The High Stone Clover is a biennial plant. The herbaceous growing, branched stems is upright or arched ascending and usually reaches a height of 60 to 125 cm. The foliage leaflets are obovate to oblong-wedge-shaped and serrate toothed. The stipules are entire or - in the middle and lower - provided with a tooth.

Furrowed melilot is an aromatic annual shrub that flourishes in dry areas, including deserts. This plant derives its common name Furrowed melilot from its toothed or ‘furrowed’ leaflets and the Greek word meli, which means honey, in reference to its characteristic sweet-smelling odor.