Skip to content


Taxon:  Melilotus altissimus Thuill.



Summary
Genus:
Melilotus
Family:
Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae)
Subfamily:
Faboideae
Tribe:
Trifolieae
Nomen number:
23991
Place of publication:
Fl. env. Paris ed. 2:378. 1799 "altissima"
Verified:
08/25/1989 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
6 (5  active, 4  available) in Australian Pastures Genebank.  (Map it)
Other conspecific taxa
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Heterotypic Synonym(s)
Melilotus macrorrhizus (Waldst. & Kit.) Pers.
Trifolium macrorrhizum Waldst. & Kit.
No images


Reference(s)
  1. Afonin, A. N., S. L. Greene, N. I. Dzyubenko, & A. N. Frolov, eds. Interactive agricultural ecological atlas of Russia and neighboring countries. Economic plants and their diseases, pests and weeds (on-line resource).
  2. Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin). 2009
  3. Bisset, N. G., ed. Herbal drugs and phytopharmaceuticals. A handbook for practice on a scientific basis. 1994
  4. Blumenthal, M., ed. The complete German Commission E monographs: therapeutic guide to herbal medicines. 1998
  5. Cooper, M. R. & A. W. Johnson. Poisonous plants and fungi in Britain: animal and human poisoning. 1998
  6. Encke, F. et al. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 13. Auflage. 1984
  7. Greuter, W. et al., eds. Med-Checklist. 1984-
  8. Komarov, V. L. et al., eds. Flora SSSR. 1934-1964
  9. Markle, G. M. et al., eds. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. 1998
  10. Pignatti, S. Flora d'Italia. 1982
  11. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
  12. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994
  13. Sales, F. & I. C. Hedge. 1993. Melilotus Miller (Leguminosae): typification and nomenclature. Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 51:172.
  14. Sinskaya, E. N., ed. 1950. Perennial leguminous plants. Part I. Medic, sweetclover, fenugreek. Kul't. Flora SSSR 13(1):422-423.
  15. Smythies, B. E. Flora of Spain and the Balearic Islands: checklist of vascular plants. Englera 3:1-882. 1984-1986
  16. Stace, C. New flora of the British Isles. 1995
  17. Stevenson, G. A. 1969. An agronomic and taxonomic review of the genus Melilotus Mill. Canad. J. Pl. Sci. 49:7.
  18. Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. Flora europaea. 1964-1980
  19. Uphof, J. C. T. Dictionary of economic plants, ed. 2. 1968
  20. Van Wyk, B.-E. & M. Wink. Medicinal plants of the world. 2004
  21. Voronchikhin, V. V. & N. A. Basilevskaya. 1974. Opredelenie sornykh vidov roda Melilotus Adans. po plodam i semenam. (Identification of weed plants from the genus Melilotus Adans. with the help of their pods and seeds). Vestn. Moskovsk. Univ., Ser. 6, Biol. 29:35.
  22. Vuillemin, P. 1888. Les tubercles radicaux des légumineuses. Ann. Sci. Agron. Franç. Étrangère 1:121-212.
Common names
English
tall melilot –
tall yellow sweet-clover –
French
grand mélilot –
German
hoher Steinklee –
Portuguese
trevo-de-cheiro –
Spanish
meliloto gigante –
trébol oloroso –
Swedish
stor sötväppling –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeMoldova  
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeRussian Federation-European partEuropean part 
1NativeEuropeEast EuropeUkraine  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeAustria  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeBelgium  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeCzechoslovakia  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeGermany  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeHungary  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeNetherlands  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropePoland  
1NativeEuropeMiddle EuropeSwitzerland  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeDenmark  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeNorway  
1NativeEuropeNorthern EuropeSweden  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeAlbania  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeFormer Yugoslavia  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeGreece  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeItaly  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeRomania  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeFrance  
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeSpain  
Native
Europe
  • EAST EUROPE: Russian Federation-European part [European part], Moldova, Ukraine
  • MIDDLE EUROPE: Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland
  • NORTHERN EUROPE: Denmark, Norway, Sweden
  • SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: Former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Italy, Romania
  • SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE: Spain, France
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Animal foodpotential as forage Sinskaya, E. N., ed. 1950. Perennial leguminous plants. Part I. Medic, sweetclover, fenugreek. Kul't. Flora SSSR 13(1):422-423.
Food additivesflavoring Uphof, J. C. T. Dictionary of economic plants, ed. 2. 1968
Human foodvegetable Uphof, J. C. T. Dictionary of economic plants, ed. 2. 1968
Vertebrate poisonsmammals Cooper, M. R. & A. W. Johnson. Poisonous plants and fungi in Britain: animal and human poisoning. 1998
Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2025. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://apg.pir.sa.gov.au/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=23991. Accessed 18 July 2025.


GRIN-Global project