Tall Melilot - Melilotus altissimus
Medium to tall hairless plant to 1.5 metres, stems erect and branched. Leaves oblong, sharply toothed, stipules slender, untoothed. Flowers yellow, 5 to 7 mm long, in many-flowered racemes, the wings equalling the keel. Pod oval, 5 to 6 mm, hairy and net veined, black when ripe with a persistent style.
Ribbed Melilot (Melilotus officinalis)
The keel (lowest petal) is about equal in length to the wings (side petals) and standard (top petal). Fruits black and hairy when ripe
A photo of the plant in its habitat, plus a side on view of flowers, or fruits.
Damp habitats, woodland margins, roadsides.
June to August.
Biennial or short lived perennial.
Widespread and quite common in England south of the Tyne, scarcer in the south west of England, Wales and Scotland.
Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 93 of the 617 tetrads.
Graham Calow
Sapcote
29 June 2013
David Nicholls
Burbage Common
01 July 2011
Craig Mabbett
Broughton Astley Brick Quarry
05/08/2017
seeds are black, hairy and with a persistent style
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Species profile
- Common names
- Tall Melilot
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Fabales
- Family:
- Fabaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 17
- First record:
- 01/07/2011 (Nicholls, David)
- Last record:
- 18/06/2025 (Pugh, Dylan)
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% of records within its species group
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Latest records
Graham Calow
Sapcote
29 June 2013
Agromyza frontella
The larva of the Agromyzid fly Agromyza frontella mines the leaves of various Leguminosae such as Clovers, Melilot and Lucerne. It starts as a linear mine. usually running towards the tip of the leaf then turning back a into a blotch in the midrib area. Frequently, no blotch is formed.
Agromyza nana
The larva of the Agromyzid fly Agromyza nana mines the leaves of Clovers and other species in the Leguminosae family. The mines have a short, broad gallery leading to a conspicuous, roundish white blotch in the centre of the leaf. The blotch is on the upper surface with some deep areas often containing frass.