Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Yellow Sweetclover - Melilotus officinalis   (L.) Lamarck
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Section 6 » Order Fabales » Family Fabaceae
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Author(L.) Lamarck
DistributionThroughout the state, but rare in the Sandhills proper and scarce in the southern Coastal Plain.

Native of Eurasia; in N.A. essentially throughout.
AbundanceFrequent to common except rare in the Sandhills and southern Coastal Plain.
HabitatRoadsides, railroad margins, powerlines, fields, meadows, fallow cropfields, waste places.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting April-October.
IdentificationIt is very similar to White Sweetclover (M. albus), except that the flowers are yellow. It is also similar to Indian Sweetclover (M. indicus), but it grows 2-3 times as tall and the flowers are much larger.
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State RankSE
Global RankGNR
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