Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, veins of leaflets usually extended into teeth on margin; stipules adnate to petiole; leaflets toothed
Flowers yellow or white, small in slender or abbreviated, axillary racemes; bracts minute or 0
Calyx with campanulate tube; lobes variable
Petals: vexillum sessile, glabrous; wings oblong, eared at base, clawed; keel ± planoconvex, obtuse, clawed
Stamens diadelphous, with vexillary stamen free or partly connate with rest; anthers uniform
Ovary sessile or subsessile, 2-few-ovuled; style straight or incurved, with terminal stigma
Pod small, subglobose or ovoid, indehiscent or tardily 2-valved, longer than calyx
Seeds solitary or few, often ± kidney-shaped
x = 8, 9 (high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
*Melilotus Mill.
Miller: [876] (1754)
Adanson: 322 (1763)
Harvey: 161 (1862)
Henderson & Anderson: 182 (1966)
Gillett: 1039 (1971)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 20, temperate and subtropical regions of Europe, Asia and North Africa
Southern Africa: Species 3, have become naturalised and are widespread near cultivated lands
References:
ADANSON, M. 1763. Familles des plantes 2. Vincent, Paris
GILLETT, J.B. 1971. Flora of tropical East Africa. Leguminosae (part 4). Papilionoideae (continued)
HARVEY, W.H. 1862. Leguminosae. Flora capensis 2
HENDERSON, M. & ANDERSON, J.G. 1966. Caesalpinia decapetala (Roth) Alston. Common weeds in South Africa. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 37
MILLER, P. 1754. The gardener's dictionary, abridged edn 4. Rivington, London
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
