Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae
Melilotus indicus, sometimes incorrectly written Melilotus indica, is a yellow-flowered herb native to northern Africa, Europe and Asia, but naturalized throughout the rest of the world.
Melilotus parviflorus Desf. Melilotus tommasinii Jord. Trifolium indicum L.
Close
Common names in English include sweet clover (or sweet-clover), sour clover (sour-clover, sourclover), Indian sweet-clover, annual yellow sweetclover, Bokhara clover, small-flowered sweet clover, common melilot, small-flowered melilot, small melilot, sweet melilot, Californian lucerne and Hexham scent. In Australia and New Zealand, where it is naturalised, it is sometimes called King Island melilot or King Island clover.[1][2][3]
Description
It is an annual or biennial herb from 10 to 50 centimetres (3.9 to 19.7 inches) in height (rarely to one metre), with trifoliate leaves and small yellow flowers borne in dense racemes.[4] Similar to Melilotus altissima Thuill. in general. The flowers are 2 – 3mm long and produce a hairless pod of similar length.[5] Its leaves have a sweet, cloying scent when crushed.
It is used as a source of nectar for bees, as forage, and as a soil improver. It is also used in folk medicine. It is poisonous to some mammals, and is a potential seed crop contaminant.[1]
In Pakistan, Melilotus indicus is called sinji, which is used as a vegetable. It has many medicinal uses. It has antioxidant properties . It also has alpha-amylase inhibitory activities , because of which it may be useful for type 2 diabetes.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Melilotus_indicus, and is written by contributors.
Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.