Calflora: Melilotus officinalis

Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall.

yellow sweetclover

Melilotus officinalis, a dicot, is an annual or biennial herb that is not native to California; it was introduced from elsewhere and naturalized in the wild.

Community:	introduced plant which is becoming naturalized
Wetlands:	Usually occurs in non wetlands, but occasionally found in wetlands [U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.]
Elevation:	between 0 and 4921 feet
Family:	FABACEAE
Related:	See a list of other species in the genus Melilotus found in California.

Name Status:

Accepted by TJM2 + PLANTS + JM93

Other Names:

PLANTS:	Melilotus alba
PLANTS:	Melilotus albus var. annuus
PLANTS:	Melilotus albus
PLANTS:	Melilotus arvensis
PLANTS:	Melilotus leucanthus
PLANTS:	Melilotus lutea
PLANTS:	Melilotus officinalis var. micranthus

Plant
Characteristics
+ Associated
Organisms

Bloom Period

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Observation

Observation Hotline
including observations with photos

Distribution by County:

See a detailed Distribution Grid of this plant in California.

A shaded county indicates that there are ocurrence records of this plant within the county.

Hover the mouse over the map to see county names. Click to view records from that county.

	There are specimen records from this county in an herbarium.
	There are documented records, vouchered or confirmed by an expert.
	There are reported records.
	There are reported records available indirectly (eg. in botanical literature).

Records by County, with approximate record counts in the form: TOTAL / CCH. Click county name to view records.

Alameda: 10 / 4 CCH Alpine: 6 / 6 CCH Butte: 31 / 24 CCH Calaveras: 3 / 2 CCH Contra Costa: 4 / 0 CCH Colusa: 12 / 6 CCH Del Norte: 7 / 4 CCH El Dorado: 18 / 12 CCH Fresno: 5 / 4 CCH Glenn: 10 / 2 CCH Humboldt: 32 / 27 CCH Imperial: 9 / 7 CCH Inyo: 95 / 25 CCH Kern: 22 / 15 CCH Lake: 8 / 4 CCH Lassen: 2 / 1 CCH Los Angeles: 154 / 86 CCH Mendocino: 12 / 3 CCH Merced: 7 / 4 CCH Mono: 27 / 7 CCH Monterey: 26 / 11 CCH Modoc: 8 / 6 CCH Mariposa: 5 / 0 CCH Marin: 8 / 0 CCH Napa: 11 / 3 CCH Nevada: 12 / 6 CCH Orange: 51 / 38 CCH Placer: 4 / 3 CCH Plumas: 4 / 1 CCH Riverside: 94 / 25 CCH Sacramento: 17 / 8 CCH Santa Barbara: 63 / 51 CCH San Bernardino: 61 / 50 CCH San Benito: 2 / 0 CCH Santa Clara: 4 / 4 CCH Santa Cruz: 7 / 5 CCH San Diego: 154 / 135 CCH San Francisco: 10 / 1 CCH Shasta: 11 / 2 CCH Sierra: 1 / 1 CCH Siskiyou: 8 / 5 CCH San Joaquin: 2 / 1 CCH San Luis Obispo: 21 / 14 CCH San Mateo: 7 / 1 CCH Solano: 14 / 5 CCH Sonoma: 17 / 1 CCH Stanislaus: 3 / 2 CCH Sutter: 4 / 2 CCH Tehama: 11 / 8 CCH Trinity: 6 / 5 CCH Tulare: 9 / 0 CCH Tuolumne: 8 / 2 CCH Ventura: 64 / 40 CCH Yolo: 11 / 7 CCH Yuba: 3 / 3 CCH

CCH: records provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria.

Information about Melilotus officinalis from other sources:

Photos on Picasa / Flickr / Google Images
website references on Google
USDA PLANTS Profile (MEOF)
Nursery availability and horticultural info (what grows with this plant?) on CNPLX
UC Integrated Pest Management Weed Photo Gallery
(profile of this plant as an agricultural weed)
2012 Jepson Manual Treament from the Jepson Herbarium,
University of California, Berkeley
Original Publication citation. on the International Plants Names Index
Search efloras.org (Flora of North America)
Search the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Database